I Hear The Names Read/I Begin To Cry And Then To Weep Poem by Shalom Freedman

I HEAR THE NAMES READ/ I BEGIN TO CRY AND THEN TO WEEP

I hear the names read
I begin to cry and then to weep
I don't know why
I do not know anyone who reads the names
Perhaps it is the ages of some-two, five, ten
Perhaps it is the incredible list of unheard of places
Perhaps it is the reading of the names of whole families at once
Perhaps it is the small stories of family connection
Each reader makes -
Perhaps it is the ways they were murdered -the sadistic cruelty
Their humiliation-
Perhaps it is the thought that the names they read are just a small part
Of the six million names there are
Perhaps there is the thought that I too have relatives there
Who I will never know the name of
Perhaps it is just the overwhelming cruelty and evil of it all
Perhaps it is the knowledge that this is my people they killed
Perhaps it is the knowledge that this same people is threatened again
With mass destruction
Perhaps it is all the years of all this suffering and struggle
Perhaps it is the knowledge no memory no reading of names
Will bring even a single one back
Perhaps it is simply grief
Grief and regret and sadness and horror and anger and fear
Perhaps it is death and the injustice done to all of them.