These Are the Words that Defined Them

About the Holocaust

This is the ground they lie in-

Upturned by their shovels and hands.

Where restless souls chill their bones

On these forsaken and malignant lands.

 

These are the pans they ate with

That fed the skeletal figures that walked.

Both mothers and fathers, identical in pain,

Ignoring the mirrors that mocked.

 

This is the star they lived by-

A symbol stitched on their coats.

The once holy sign, now contract with death-

An endless line to Charon’s boats.

 

These are the fires that ate them-

Gone were their skin, hair, and bones.

Their ashes mixed with familiar tears

Anguished in what their world condones. 

Author's Note

I wrote this a while back as an example to a class while they had been learning about the Holocaust.