navwin » Archives » Open Poetry #1 » Freedom - The Night the Ghetto Burned
Open Poetry #1
Post A Reply Post New Topic Freedom - The Night the Ghetto Burned Go to Previous / Newer Topic Back to Topic List Go to Next / Older Topic
Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley

0 posted 1999-06-30 09:52 PM



Sarah stood beside the train
as the Jewish ghetto burned
Her entire family had perished there
that was all that she had learned.

An acrid smoke filled her lungs
water streamed from her saddened eyes
She wondered then, why they had believed
those, terrible German lies.

They told her a new life awaited them
"just get on the train" they said.
And so she stood in tattered clothes
now her whole family was dead.

She took her place in the train
standing next to a weeping man
with nothing to eat or drink all day
no need to use their ‘can’.

The air around them grew hot and moist
a child began to cry
a woman softly murmured
"we’re all about to die!"

"Nonsense" said one, an elder,
"they told us we go to work"
But Sarah knew the truth that,
the world had gone berserk.

She told herself she would escape
as soon as she saw a chance.
For after all, she was so young,
had not even tasted romance.

Her life would not end here
she silently gave a vow
she would not let them take her life
she would live, somehow.

The train stopped and the door opened
and sunlight streamed onto her face
She smelled smoke, a fire of hate,
and knew the devil lived in this place.


She walked forward like the others
but held her head up high
It was her arrogance the selectors said
that determined that she must die.

She walked along a dusty path
with others both strong and frail
She watched for a way to run
before she entered the devil’s jail.

She stripped down with the others
and waited for the water to start.
But only smelled an acrid gas
that invaded her beating heart.

The cries rang out, they started to run
but there was nowhere for them to go.
They climbed on top of the falling bodies
of people they didn’t know.

Sarah stood in the corner, alone,
not frightened at all now.
She would find another way
to keep her silent vow.

She cupped her hands over her mouth
and scuttled behind the door.
She breathed into a crack in the wall
until the last body fell to the floor.

The door opened and a man walked in
not seeing the girl standing there
she snuck out when they were busy
cutting off the dead women’s hair.

Into the woods she ran,
naked and painfully thin
She hoped that she would find someone
that would kindly take her in.

She wandered in the woods for days
eating leaves to stay alive
She drank the dew from the morning grass
and prayed that she would survive.

After a week, she grew so weary
and began to think that she would die
but that’s when she found the peasant’s hut
abandoned, but warm and dry.

She dressed in an old blanket,
ate squirrels she caught at night
she drank from the well at the back of the hut
living each day in mortal fright.

Time passed, she lost count of the days.
Until she heard the sounds of war.
So she cautiously crept to the top of a hill
when she could stay hidden no more.

The war was over, the prisoners freed!
Sarah fell to the ground and cried.
She wept for all the millions who,
had needlessly suffered and died.

Today Sarah tells her story
not holding back the tears.
She tells of the terrible thing
that awakens her hidden fears.

She says she prays every night
that a lesson has been learned
That man will never repeat the horror
of the night the Jewish ghetto burned.

© Copyright 1999 Poet deVine - All Rights Reserved
Haskins
Member
since 1999-06-26
Posts 85
Dallas, TX
1 posted 1999-06-30 09:54 PM


Beautiful work. I love poetry that can capture the raw emotion of an actual event.

Excellent work.

------------------
William Haskins
http://www.ionstorm.com/public/haskins/inner_sanctum.htm

Fred Hobbs
Member
since 1999-06-08
Posts 329
Tallahassee, Florida, US
2 posted 1999-06-30 10:16 PM


Poet, Very vivid and chilling. And a challenging topic to take up in rhyme. You pulled it off very well. Excellent job...

sandman

Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley
3 posted 1999-06-30 10:19 PM


The theme of the next few days is Freedom... let's hear yours!

Thank you both for your kind comments...sometimes long epic poetry is hard to read and maintain a meter...



Ron
Administrator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-05-19
Posts 8669
Michigan, US
4 posted 1999-06-30 10:42 PM


Yea, sometimes it is hard to read and hard to maintain the meter in a long epic. You maintained the meter well, but the poem was still hard to read. I guess you can blame that on the tears, though.

As we approach the celebration of our Independece Day, I suspect this poem is a good reminder that the freedom our country won a few hundred years ago isn't yet Universal, and hasn't always been shared by our brothers and sisters in the rest of the world. We need reminders like this. Especially like this...

Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA
5 posted 1999-07-01 06:37 AM


poet deVine...
You do, indeed, have quite a talent for putting absolutely any of life's issues into verse.
Thank you for giving us a new appreciation for our own freedom - your tribute is portrayed through its antithesis quite beautifully.

Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley
6 posted 1999-07-01 09:44 AM


Thank you Ron and Nan..praise from the two of you is manna to my poetic ears....
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA
7 posted 1999-07-01 05:28 PM


Absolutely wonderful, devine one. A difficult undertaking with wonderful results. Well done!
Andrew Scott
Member Elite
since 1999-06-24
Posts 2558
Redlands,CA,USA
8 posted 1999-07-01 05:57 PM


Ms. deVine: You have my admiration for a level of skill and empathy that is beyond my comprehension. My highest praise to you.
Sally S.
Senior Member
since 1999-06-07
Posts 847
Ohio
9 posted 1999-07-01 07:04 PM


Truly exceptional Poet! A very emotional subject to be sure...I don't think people take the time to realize how lucky we really are.

Of all the poems I've read of yours thus far, (and they're all wonderful) this one in particular, has to be the one I admire most. Well done Poet.



Lost Dreamer
Member Elite
since 1999-06-20
Posts 2464
Somewhere near the Rainbow
10 posted 1999-07-01 07:16 PM


This was excellent, I really enjoyed the tears, for they were there because I was drawn into this marvelous piece of poetic work, that must have been as difficult to write as it was to read. Thanks
Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley
11 posted 1999-07-01 09:08 PM


Thank you all again. Want to hear something strange? I'm not Jewish! But I think poets 'feel' the pain of others more deeply and can associate with it. I've read it in all your poetry also. Let freedom ring!

invertigo18
Member
since 1999-06-14
Posts 53
Prairieville, LA., USA
12 posted 1999-07-01 09:17 PM


Truly an epic in itself. Wonderful describation of different scenes. My imagination took off as I read this. And so did my emotions. There were also other religions to suffer other than jews. But I'm sure that this poem speaks for all of them. Very good work, I wish I wrote this well.

------------------
Luke Cakalic

Nan
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-20
Posts 21191
Cape Cod Massachusetts USA
13 posted 1999-07-04 02:49 PM


Let's hear it one more time
For Independence Day


aziza
Member Elite
since 2006-07-09
Posts 2995
Lumpy Oatmeal makes me Crazy!
14 posted 2007-05-30 04:10 AM


It still brings tears, this poem of yours --and the time of Memorial Day is a good time to bring it back.  

Alison

Mysteria
Deputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Laureate
since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada
15 posted 2007-05-30 01:52 PM


I am so glad this showed up as I had never read it Sharon, and I wish one of our past members had read this before she died too.  You indeed have a unique ability to tell stories in poetry and this unfortunately is so very close to the truth, that it hurt.  So glad it got to be read again, for freedom's sake.

          
Carpe' Diem    

Alison
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Rara Avis
since 2008-01-27
Posts 9318
Lumpy oatmeal makes me crazy!
16 posted 2011-02-20 02:57 AM


I read this poem a few years ago and it still holds me in its grip.  I think I can breathe now.

A

Post A Reply Post New Topic ⇧ top of page ⇧ Go to Previous / Newer Topic Back to Topic List Go to Next / Older Topic
All times are ET (US). All dates are in Year-Month-Day format.
navwin » Archives » Open Poetry #1 » Freedom - The Night the Ghetto Burned

Passions in Poetry | pipTalk Home Page | Main Poetry Forums | 100 Best Poems

How to Join | Member's Area / Help | Private Library | Search | Contact Us | Login
Discussion | Tech Talk | Archives | Sanctuary