The Children Of The Jar* Poem by Jim Milks

If you see a drowning man you must throw him a rope
In 1942 there was a drowning man that Irena saw
the helpless children of Warsaw
With her little glass jar she could bring them hope

Babies hidden in tool boxes, hidden from sight
Their names written on paper, kept safe in the jar
Spirited away under the cover of the night
Sent out across the land to the near and the far

Beaten and broken, never defeated
With Irena, death itself was cheated
From under the oak tree pulled gently from the earth
The children of the jar, had a second birth

The war was over, the real work has begun
To find bring the children back to their families each and every one
All that remained had scattered to the wind
But, there is the jar that is where they shall begin
With her jar, Irena had won

© JPM 10/22/08

*In Warsaw Poland during WWII a social worker by the name of Irena Sendler, hide Jewish children in tool boxes and anything that she could. She would write the children’s real names and the names that of the families that she would hide them with on a slip of paper hidden in a jar and buried. She was captured and tortured and until the day she died walked with a limp. Irena personally risked her life and her freedom to help those that needed it most and would have remained unknown to the world if it wasn’t for a few high school students. Irena passed away on May 12,2008 at the age of 98. I urge you to find out about this women and these students http: //www.irenasendler.org/