Lying at the Gate (Auschwitz)
An oldie, reworked.
“Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate.”
Dante Alighieri
I stand at the gate in front of Auschwitz.
My knees begin to wobble. Then they begin to buckle.
Soon, I have no legs to stand on and I am sitting on them.
I go to raise my fist, but my muscles are too weak to lift my arm.
I try to look up, but I am blinded by blackness.
I want to speak, but I have lost my voice.
Finally, my body collapses,
Like a bag of bones.
Two Polish people come to my rescue.
They carry me off in a stretcher. “Too much heat!” they say in Polish.
As they are carrying me off, a voice in my fevered brain spoke:
‘Wir haben überlebt.
Wir haben alles verloren,
Aber überlebt.
Ausgerechnet wir.’
(‘We survived.
We lost everything,
But we survived.
We, of all people.’)
Very poignant, Glenn.
The memories of those harrowing events can have traumatic effects.
Very true, Luigi, and yet we remember. Thank you for your comment.
Indeed, I agree with luigi. I feel privileged to never have suffered a war, yet they flourish all around us. Your work reminds us of the horror of one.
Mike
As do I (feel privileged to never have suffered a war), the horrors of which I hope to never experience first-hand, as they did during that terrible, terrible time. Your comment is much appreciated.
“We survived. We lost everything, But we survived. We, of all people” in German would be:
“Wir haben überlebt.
Wir haben alles verloren,
Aber überlebt.
Ausgerechnet wir.”
I don’t understand what you wrote.
Thanks for the correction, ’tis much appreciated.