Negligence Poem by Frank Bana

I have neglected sacred duties
The future punishment of my soul
May yet be more severe
There were too many days
Visiting with laughter
In songs and cries of ecstasy

Without a sigh, a bow or sway
Towards the murdered millions
The children thrown to metal jaws
The women into seething lime
The old ones without stones above their heads
To guard their peace in eternity

I should not have forgotten thee
The spirit of the people
So deeply perished in my birth
The martyrs of the ancient books
The heroes of the alleyways
Abandoned to the wicked woods

I am to blame, I am to blame
My right hand all too busy
My name become a distant tongue
That does not call upon nor claim
My heart for Israel. I am lost:
A life unnoted by the scribe
A death by mourner's prayer unsanctified.