Requiem of Remembrance

Pack up your house and home, they said,

We dared not fail the call,

Thus plodded through the crowded streets

And past the concrete wall.

We quickly found our lodgings cramped,

And fear glazed ev’ry eye-

They had not brought us here to live,

They brought us here to die.

Day after day, night after night,

So parched and underfed,

We shrunk into our skin and bones

As streets became our bed.

With silent prayers to be released,

We looked towards the sky-

They had not brought us here to live,

They brought us here to die.

A whistling blare pierced through the air,

And we piled into trains

To head beyond the city bounds

Towards more aches and pains.

We stressed and strained in drudgery

About the squalid sty-

They had not brought us here to live,

They brought us here to die.

Day after day, night after night,

So underfed and parched,

We at another whistle’s trill

Were to the chambers marched.

They shoved us in, they shut the door,

A snick, a swish, a sigh-

They had not brought us here to live,

They brought us here to die.

- EDP

Author's Note

In honour of Yom HaShoah, which is today (I know I'm rather late posting it, but better now than never)

Reviews

[MCS]

Sober read, chilling images your brought forward. One very cold December day in Poland I crossed the threshold and as one who reads a lot of history I was not ready for what lay ahead. And there are those who claim it didn't happen SHAME.

Well penned and chilling.

[emipoemi]

Inspired by a visit to Yad Vashem. Chilling stuff indeed. And yeah, shame on the deniers when the evidence is right there. Thanks for reading. Glad you enjoyed.

[Gee]

Man, no reviews, unbelievable.
My wife and daughter have not long return ed from Poland where they visited "the camps" a visit that will.live in their minds until their last breath taken.
Poetry envy here, well done you

[emipoemi]

So very few really appreciate quality work nowadays, and it's sad. I had wondered why this powerful poem, which was inspired by a tour of Yad Vashem in Israel way back when, wasn't getting any acknowledgement for what it was saying. Glad you enjoyed it. Hope you enjoyed your trip to Poland. I've been wanting to go myself.