Dachau Poem by Amanda Jackson

A portal to the past
Heavy, cold and leaden lies,
This dark deception unsurpassed
Made room for smoking skies.

Twisted fragments of broken bones
Disinterred by our ingress.
Fiery chambers of burning coal
Each mortal figure will repress.

Tread in ashes of life composed.
Smoldered embers fuse with soil.
Empty bodies in sound repose,
This futile product of their toil.

Where life escapes so fleeting
Past the iron gate they falter.
Deemed innocent souls of treason
To the sacrificial alter.

What deceit in man did bring forth such disdain?
This blood said to reprimand a nation.
The delight in the wicked left them cast away and slain
And stripped the souls of their salvation.

This portal to their past,
Exhume these visions from their tomb.
Let this tragedy be the last,
That man shall ever let consume.