You're not forgotten

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day. It should be remembered everyday, but since today is when the first concentration camp was liberated by Allied forces, today is worth the extra reflection. I was in a creative writing class a year ago when American and Canadian veterans were in Europe commemorating the 60th anniversary of War's end. This was my attempt to tap into current events as well as history.

The Arrival of The Hero

Alone I was in that damp room
When you barged in at last
I noticed the decrepit bravery on your face
I felt you thinking how the War could have come to this
After all the battles and bloodshed, could you confront this hatred?

I noticed your uniform through my blurred vision
Were my eyes mistaken? Stars and stripes, no twisted cross?
Blood stained your shirt, your helmet
To whom did it belong: friend or foe?
Your dirty pants have been many times repaired

A lot can be told from your dirty and worn out boots
They are the support that carried you across many long miles
They took my shoes when I entered here
I can’t think what it would be like to wear them again
Now that my bare feet know all weather and ground

I can see your rifle, well within your grasp
You depend on it as much as the foul air you breathe
What stories would it tell if it could?
Did it kill the twisted men who kept me here?
Did it find others holding on to the weakest hope, like me?

That weakest hope, just a sliver of hope
Was kept alive because of men like you
The smallest voice was telling me one day you would come
Save me from the despair, the torture, and the death
Others, are there others? Besides those I know that have long since died

You saw me move. You picked me up.
You carried me to breathe the fresh air.
I saw there were others, just skin and bones
There were soldiers like you, tears in their eyes
Survival skills mastered or just fate tested?

As many nightmares still I hold of the years in the enemy’s capture
I holdfast to the angel that came that day
To take me back to freedom’s glory

Written: January 29, 2005
Revised: March 6, 2005
Revised: April 16, 2005