Human Ash

In Bedzin and in Krakow they breathed in
What they denied in conscious thought or word.
The ashes of the Jews, the shades of skin

Penetrating lungs so deep within
The dead unburied mixed, in air secured
In Bedzin and in Krakow, they breathed sin.

The nearby people turned to burial urns.
The human dust by breathing was allured
The ashes of the Jews, the shades of skin.

So Europe took their human ash within.
A graveyard we became unknown, impure.
In Bedzin and in Krakow, more of sin.

And who they thought destroyed lived on in them
Controlled their lungs, their hearts their minds uncured,
The ashes of the Jews, borne on their skin.

Like a mass communion without words
We ate and breathed the Jews, the gays, the bared.
In Bedzin and in Krakow we walked in
The ashes of the lost, the glades of skin

My memories my only souvenir

At home by Katherine

I saw my house uprooted like a tree

Great roots were severed, how I ached to see

And all was tossed without my love and care

Bits of earth fell from the roots. now bare.

Barbaric in its mad intensity

I wept the tears of grief for you, for me.

Our home attacked,destroyed and I lie here.

Putting out the flames with profuse tears

Lamenting for my love who died within

The collapsing of my world now with no sun

The house a symbol of our marriage true

Cannot stand without a me and you

So my vision passed and I am here

My memories are my only souvenir