Ann Frank's Diary Poem by Richard Jarboe

Think of all the beauty,
Still left around you,
There's still room for happiness,
Though Nazis surround you.

The universal experience,
Still includes innocence,
New headlines challenge the day,
She was committed to a better way.

There's many reasons to drop your ideal,
Many seem so absurd,
Yet please believe in what you feel,
Steadfast in heart and not the word.

The good news is how great you can be,
She figured that out contemplating a tree,
No life has to be in vain,
There's life after death and all the pain.

No one has ever become poor by giving,
And her diary goes on living,
Hope brings us strength in time,
Where courage rises to the sublime.

In surrounding hell,
She was an optimist,
And what she wrote,
Brings spirit... even to the atheist.