On The Anniversary of The Holocaust

I want to sit in Berlitsplatz

Drink cognac at the cafe

To watch the Linden trees in bloom

The larks sing overhead.

But I don’t sit in Berlitsplatz

Nor drink at that cafe

I watch the guards their long list call

Will mine be there today.

My mother and my father gone

Mere mists across the moon.

My brothers and my sisters

To ashes gone too soon.

Midst ghosts and shadows all around

My weary way I tread

“Work makes you free” the words they said

Now leads us on to death.

And now at length my time is spent

To shower but not refresh

The acrid odour starts to bite

I close my eyes and rest.

And now I sit in Berlisplatz

Drink cognac at the cafe

I see the Linden trees in bloom

The larks…………………..

EAW