To B.I. - A Sonnet Poem by Lewis Eron

The Nazis entered Vienna before you thought to leave
Welcomed by many, no doubt, so you sought new lodgings not far
Away in closets, barns and tunnels after you won the yellow star
To mark your race and creed and lead you to deceive
Yourself that in spite of all you could believe
In the messiah’s coming as if he were waiting in a bar
In Rome or Tel Aviv or Ann Arbor
Or in your New York studio shaping the forms of Adam and Eve

Your parents’ shapes last seen in a pillar of cloud re-appear
As our grandparents wearing evening clothes as they stepped
Right out of paradise, eastward of Eden, into Nimrod’s pyre
This time cast in bronze, metal flesh that flames can’t sear
But still, find no comfort in a God who wept
As they were harvested by the cherubs’ swords of fire