Sunday, February 15, 2009

Sunday Poems: On the Holocaust














Two poems today. The first is entitled "Kristallnacht," the second, "On Touching a Theresienstadt Death Cart":


Fire marries sand
And glass is born.


Flashing swords of light,

It spirals to the sky in windows,
Traps the gazer's eyes in mirrors,

brazen eyes,
lovelorn eyes

soft deep eyes.
Glass cups cool clear water
Or shelters pictures on the wall.


But here, this darkest night,

Shattered always
In these screams of pain,
Here glass can be


Just one plain thing,

And one alone:

The irretrievable breaking
Of a human heart.

+ + + + +


Touch is always the last thing to go.


Sight fails, ears stop.
Still, we reach out to hold:
The final semaphore of love.


We kiss the dying one

As eyes shut,

Heart stops its beat,

And breath flies forth.


Our lips, our fingers know.


They grasp the lover's soul

Until they loose their grip

And break the bond.