By Juliette M. van de Mheen (stardustraven)
From behind the curtains
Silent spectators
Saw
Heard
The victims' piercing screams
Their persecutors' raucous roars
Sledgehammers smashing
Stones and glass
Broken windows
Burning buildings
Desecrated - Destroyed
Homes, shops, synagogues....
Those frightened witnesses
Sat immobile
Crying, wrestling
With their conscience
Inside their houses
While outside
The hellhounds
The hordes of hooligans
Obeyed and followed
The Monster Anti-Semitism
Hatred and hysteria
At fever pitch
The Beast rolled on
Its orgy of destruction
Most brutal
These November pogroms
The turning point
Foreshadowing....
Juliette M. van de Mheen lives and works in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. She has worked at the University Library of Amsterdam, where she worked partially for the Rare and Early Printings Project), and she now works at the Municipal Archive. Recently, a poem was published under the name "stardustraven" at Naturewriting.com. Readers can find her blog here.
This searingly haunting poem is a classic commemoration of the greates evil of the 20th century.I cerainly hope to read more from this poet whose voice is unqique with both eloquence and passion.
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