Astronomical Calamity

A first-hand account of a man's survival through the Holocaust.

Astronomical Calamity

'Twas noon on the desolate shores of a Past long gone. The ashes of a million lives yearning for a frigid wisp of August winds To rush forth and cool their burning Misery; to shut out the diabolical Tortures that accompany their harrowing sorrows. Darkness abides in this unholy regime of such hellish proportion, blanking out Most Light, whom of which is needed most to cure the innumerable souls that Perish beyond belief; a chilling  Holocaust that resurrects all the unimaginable Horrors of which few lives can escape from. My name is Jihad Elthwitz; though some may think my name is of much importance, Hearken, my fellowmen: it is not. For the story that God hath spared me to tell is in fact of the upmost importance, And I waste no time in telling it so. Gather round the bonfire as I tell you of my journey into the powerful regiments Of which almost no man or woman wilst escape; a powerful story, yes, but more Powerful are those that giveth up not their hope of being rescued; they who dare To cross the mighty Paths of Torment risk both sanity and soul, and therefore die Of such imposterous misery that it is an abomination,even for oneself to bear. I was one of those careless but immensely brave people, stuffed like a baked Turkey into one of the most disgusting boxcars that should ever accompany a Train's own caboose. But that was only the beginning. Nearly midnight it was, and the savage winter storms bellowed all around us as the Train came to a hard, complete stop right in the middle of an overgrown  Courtyard, bearing down on the guardsmen that stood as rigid as statues, with long Shadows escalating past them in the intense glow of the searchlights, and fierce Canines trying to rip against the emerging prisoners. Harsh words flew hither and thither amongst the officers and prisoners as lives Were torn from the hands of helpless souls, and many a tear were shed, as large Mercenaries carried away the writhing and screaming children to the ashen areas Inside the merciless crematoriums. We were then stripped nude of our clothes, our dignity, and our identity, cast  Away into the pits to burned and never to be worn again, as we, nothing but mere Animals now, were cast into wrought iron tanks and showered with frigid water. We were the lucky ones. As night wore into the early hours of daybreak, and as the days wore into  Sickening weeks....months....day after day, week after week, I had to endure with Vicious prayers this terrible cataclysm which befell upon my soul, strung under the Heat of the sun shoveling deep ditches to which (much to my utter horror) would Soon be filled with the bloody, lifeless bodies of helpless humans. It was on the fifth of October, thirteen months after I had been branded with the Fateful mark of wrongful imprisonment that at once my innumerable prayers had been Answered; this time, by men whose language I could not understand, but with Kindness of which I could confront, burst forth through the Gates and served the Few survivers food, provision, and safety. Though there were many more atrocities that should accompany this horrifying story, My heart goes out to the many lives which perished in this Holocaust, and I Respect their values as a human being, and not as an unintelligent animal cast  Into the fiery pits of Hell, to serve eternally to the heartless monsters that  Once occupied that era. Amen.

Author's Note

My first Holocaust poem...only rewritten since the first time a wrote it, nearly four years ago.

Reviews

[Gandré]

The specific, tragic event of the Holocaust - the mass murder of Jews by the Nazis during the Second World War - raises profound theological and philosophical problems, particularly
problems about the existence of God and the meaning of Jewish existence, Rubenstein has been attempting to make sense of the Holocaust since the 1960s, when he published his well-known collection of essays After Auschwitz. It is important to write about it, because we are never allowed to forget, especially we in Germany. This was going under my skin, touching and well written, thank you for sharing.