Pinkas Memorial Poem by Tom Billsborough
Pinkas Memorial
We enter their final sanctuary
We pass into stark rooms where every wall
Is etched with names, their dates of birth and death,
The latter closely packed in time
As they in cattle trucks on their final journey
As close together as those graves
In the Jewish cemetery.
Surnames and initials wrought in blood
The dates in black to mourn their deaths
Which brought their memories
To this final place of rest.
So many names, so many families,
Recalled from that extinction
Envisaged bythe "last solution".
Beyond the walls gaunt statues
Three children crouched in terror,
Skeletal forms that twist with hunger,
Recall my impotence and anger.
Dear people, my brothers and my sisters
Cattle-trucked to the Auschwitz abattoir.
I see them waver there in regimented lines
Between faint hope and deep despair.
A moment seduced by the conscript orchestra.
And those about to die recall
The mocking irony of "Arbeit macht frei".
No, no, what makes us free is true respect
For our neighbour's faith, his colour and his race.
To offer sanctuary to those displaced by war or famine,
That's what makes us free and truly human.
...Between faint hope and deep despair... excellent, my dear
" Arbeit macht frei" is a German phrase meaning " work sets you free" . The slogan is known for appearing on the entrance of Auschwitz and other concentration camps." Readers: study the history of Germany/Hitler to know more. to MyPoemList. bri :)
So kind of you to make memorial in poetry form, it kind of flags that moving along the wind of peace as it blown around people mind :)
2 - " The vast majority of the victims were Polish Jews, although German, Austrian, Czech, Dutch, French, Yugoslav, and Greek Jews also died in the Reinhard killing centers." last stanza " Arbeit macht frei" = Work sets you free. to MyPoemList bri :)
1 - re " the last solution" aka 'final solution': " In October 1941, Himmler authorized SS General Odilo Globocnik...to implement a plan to systematically murder all Jews residing in the Generalgouvernement." (cont.)
Aw this is such a haunting, chilling reminder of the holocaust, what a terrible tragedy you brought in memorial, described in moving stark scenes all so appalling. Kudos. Pls Pleez do read and comment my newest poem too, titled, " pink mania inking'
This is pure Power in Poetry that is vintage Tom Billsborough and when you're in this mode your work is impeccable and brilliant and important and grabs your readers' hearts and souls. Love these kind of poems pouring out of your pen, my friend. 10+++++++++++++++++++++++++ omto fav list
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/3/2024 7:45:45 PM # 1.0.0.1119
Fitting words for incalculable and utterly senseless brutality and suffering..