Holocaust Victim

Robbed of my childhood,
Bundled in smelly rags,
Humiliated to the lowest ebbs of Hell,
Stiffened with fright¾
Cannot distinguish day from night.
Swollen stomach, gnawing sickness,
Sunken, hollow eyes.
The heart beats,
Little hope.
Why survive? Why stay alive?
Like a beaten, degraded animal
That has felt man’s inhumanity
To man,
Loved ones torn apart,
Castration, damnation.
How can other creatures
Partake in such ghastly features?
Maimed, demonstrably scarred for life
I must survive! I must survive!
The heart beats.
There is little hope.

Boils, blood in the stool,
Bones tender and skinny,
Inflammation, degradation,
Broken shoes too tight.
Famished, underweight
Will it end?
Will we transcend?
Will the will, the soul
Survive the disaster?
As assuredly it must.
We will not die,
We will not rot,
We do believe
We have a God
We painfully shout out loud,
Rehearse and curse.

Where are you, Master of the world?
Whose bleak, black hurricane unfurled?
Mournful, in pain
Return! Return, our gracious God,
And promise
Never again.