Why Are The Lilacs Still Here When Everyone’s Gone?
from When a Lion is Chasing You, a collection of poetry
from When a Lion is Chasing You, a collection of poetry
A writing class of grandmothers, Jewish Community Center
Winter wind rattling windows Julia, pen in hand, hungry to tell her story Auschwitz-Birkenau: one teenager in a long line of Jews Julia’s mother and little sister kicked to one side She the other It was Himmler you know, she says Numbly watching her mother and sister vanish The sound of marching boots Julia huddled, nameless days by the barracks door What are you doing there? Asked a compatriot Waiting for my mother and sister The woman pointed to smoke trailing into the sky What do you think that is? A fellow villager forced raw potato into her mouth Staunching the reverse flow of her life Day after day women toiling in stink and mud Shovels and claws, endlessly moving stones —the strength of labor matched only by the paucity of potato-- Days, weeks, a month out on the sodden field Julia a sack of bones and stones One day a square of sunlight appeared in the mud Against endless clanging of metal against stone As long as I keep looking at that patch of light, thought Julia I will survive And she did All we need: One patch of sunlight |