The Holocaust - A Poem Of Remembrance Poem by Tamara Beryl Latham
The Holocaust - A Poem Of Remembrance
Skeletal frames
whose beaten hearts
once bore,
the heft of Hitler's war,
who knelt en masse,
in silence quaked
with stifled groans
beneath the veil of death.
Through reddened
tear-stained eyes
they prayed in vain,
for meager crumbs
of hardened
moldy bread.
While Kristallnacht
fueled raging fires
that burned old memories
and future dreams.
Death trains droned,
broken bones were stacked,
as clinking gold
removed from teeth
shattered the serenity of night.
Yet, through the horror
of sacrificial lambs,
an image loomed
within a vapor cloud:
Rachel weeping drops of blood,
'My children are no more.'
And what remained
were piles of sable ash,
unmarked by granite stones
that filled the earthen pits.
Yet, I still weep
for what was flesh
reduced to bone and cinder -
for those with silent tongues
who turned away.
If tears were oceans
mine have formed them all.
Listen to the poem on Remember.org
Tamara, I've FINALLY managed to put your poem's title, your name, and some NOTES about you and your poem into my August 2023 Showcase of 6 poems I recently enjoyed on PH. thanks.
Thank you, Bri. I've been sick for quite a while, so haven't commented. I appreciate your input. : -)
Well, one of several comments from me showed up 'so far'. : ) I plan to put this poem into my 'Bri's August 2023 Poems-I've-Enjoyed-Recently-On-Poemhunter Showcase', found in-progress in my list of poems. : ) bri
(cont.) THE QUESTION: What circumstances allowed Hitler to rise to power, and, with his 'associates', to carry out his/their chosen actions? bri : ) five stars
WHAT, I wonder, IS 'sable ash'? ? And I wonder: What prompts the poet's interest in this poem's subject, AND how does she respond to the following question: (cont.)
Sable ash is the black ash that remains when something is burned. : -)
I like the Poet's Note and the alliteration heft/Hitler's. Re: Rachel: This refers to a Bible story: '[Herod] sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time which he had ascertained from the wise men. '
Bravi! You've hit the nail on the head. Thanks for all your posts. So sorry this has taken so long.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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4/25/2024 3:09:38 AM # 1.0.0.1119
The last two lines of you poem were wonderfully and I suppose, so sadly written. Very moving remembrance poem of that earlier time. I just read a bio. of Oskar Shindler and although his immoral lifestyle conflicts greatly with my moral beliefs, his actions in saving a number of Jews was remarkable.
Yes, Dave, Shindler did save many Jewish people, but so did Christians such as Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsy from the Netherlands. Thanks for your reply. Sorry mine took so long.