Mauthausen

MAUTHAUSEN

 

Outside the cold and stony walls

of Mauthausen

there sits alone, bereft by grief

a silent statue crying in the rain,

“O Deutschland!”

                Around him rustle voices

                of the forest trees,

                greener now with souls

                of thousands gone

                through Mauthausen.

And when I’d climbed the quarry steps

and heard the muted whispers of the dead,

I stood before him, dying wildflowers in his hand,

and shed a tear as well

for all who came,

but never walked away

like I,

from Mauthausen.

 

© Michael D Rosenthal

27 July 1973

Vienna, Austria

Reviews

[mimia7861]

Lovely! Sentimental and sensitive without losing its lyricism