1943

She was 16 when she died.

I know, because for a moment, I held all the trouble

of her life in my arms.

 

I know because I was 16 as well

and I held her head on my lap

the whole way.

 

I listened as she told me how she would

give everything she could to

be home again.

 

She was a dancer and as we passed

though the wild lowland

I imagined her dancing

 

on that barren land. I stroked her

ashen hair softly as the wind bellowed

against our skin.

 

The silence was gravely, terror seeping

through the pores petrifying the broken hearts

of the little cattle carrier.

 

And she cried. She cried until no more tears

forced their way out of her eyes and no more

whimpers choked her.

 

She fell silent and I knew each heartbeat could

be her last and I dreaded the moment I would

no longer feel her breath.

 

And she came down with a whisper. Tiny hands

still grasping my collar and blue lips glossed over

with an apology for things she never did wrong

 

and I hugged her body closer. All that she was

extinguished like a struggling hopeless flame

on a little cattle carrier.

 

I didn't let go until the moment we reached those

iron gates we've all feared when we forcibly parted

alike the way we actually met.

 

She was 16 when she died.

I know, because for a moment, I held all the trouble

of her life in my arms.

Reviews

[patricia]

not many poems move me, but this one did, indescribably tender, heartbreaking yet beautiful.

[mariah]

wow this is truly beautiful. i could picture it all happening in my head as i read the poem, which is a very good thing. thanks so much for sharing this with us :)
-mariah

Such a beautiful emotive poem, I feel related to it somehow. As I know the feeling.
You have written it with purity, and conviction. Thanks little birdie

lovely, absolutely a lovely poem

[R J Askew]

I imagined the train was rolling across heathland in Holland towards the Reich. Many a head will have been cradled on those journeys. Your poem also reminded me very strongly of Chapter 48 in the second part of the stupendous LIFE AND FATE by Vasily Grossman. One of the strongest passages of modern literature that there is.

[closed..acct]

very deep and so sad,
I could feel the lonliness come through.
Written so very well...

[Amila Jay]

A very sad poem, much felt. Lovely write:)

[Thomas Fitzgerald]

Indeed, I tell the truth when I say, a tear rolls down my cheek, well done, great read.

[Meghan]

"blue lips glossed over with an apology for things she never did wrong"

This was great! Such emotion I could feel the pain and sadness. Awesome job!

[Audrey Howitt]

Really a lovely write---you let us feel so much of both of them--