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Survivor of the Holocaust
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Survivor of the Holocaust |
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Mabel A. Dilley Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 859Seattle, WA, USA |
(I learn to pray, part II) Perhaps I should have left you there, old as cupboards barren without food, certainly not enough to serve a proper Shabbat meal. The sun comes up again for another day to begin as I found you, and suddenly something I felt stood quiet and confused…in my heart. Living in a world that has no end I see how the stars bend and the moon continues to rise and set just as the sun. Your face tells a story compelled am I to listen, what fate is this? The constant noise I purge. They came with guns and unsmiling faces herding you off with fists and shovels onto trains. Cramped and suffocating grasping air through small slits the landscape disappearing but not nearly fast enough to escape the cries of that fear. One by one led into a room and stripped like cattle naked, choking and coughing until the they were all done silent in their suffering. I reached into my duffel bag rummaging inside for objects packed without clear thought but in a burst of emotion: two slender candles, two small brass holders and a pack of matches. In silence you set the candles upon a stone wall, lighting one candle then the other. I lifted my hands over the two small flames and in a clear resonant tone I began the prayer of so many ages. 'Blessed are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe, who has granted us life, sustained us and enabled us to reach this occasion' When I was finished, I looked about the old woman, all the people who encircled her - those from history gone to flame. Every face held a radiance I knew must also be reflected on my own. And it was good. "I am not now that which I have been." |
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| © Copyright 2001 Mabel A. Dilley - All Rights Reserved | |||
Joyce Johnson
since 2001-03-10
Posts 9912Washington State |
This is a poem with much meaning, which some of us cannot understand, but the mere mention of the holocaust brings shame to all of us who lived at the time and knew nothing of it. Joyce |
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Trillium
since 2001-03-09
Posts 12098Idaho, USA |
The world can never really atone for the Holocaust, no matter how many prayers we say. What a blot on history and on mankind. I have known a few survivors and their stories are so heart-breaking, one can hardly bear to listen. It is good that poems like yours keep it fresh in our memory. Betty Lou Hebert |
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WhtDove Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-22
Posts 9245Illinois |
Too young to have been through it, but old enough to listen to the terrible suffering of those who did go through it. And the remarkable faith of some who turned to God and endured what came their way, and made it! They over came it with their prayers and endurance and faith. God bless you! You've told a heart rending story here. |
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Marge Tindal
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384Florida's Foreverly Shores |
Julian~ So touching ... may we never forget the after-glow of those faces. ~*Marge*~ ~*The pen of the poet never runs out of ink, as long as we breathe.*~ |
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Mabel A. Dilley Senior Member
since 2001-03-17
Posts 859Seattle, WA, USA |
Thank you. This poem is one of several I wrote during my trip to Israel. I learned much from the people even the ones with guns and other weaponry. Jerusalem is an amizing city and sacred ground to so many. "I am not now that which I have been." |
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