Abattoir Macht Frei

I arrived here in the morning, I do not know the hour, For I was taken without warning, And did not have the power To resist those men in grey. From the box car I was led, Through a great big iron gate. "Abattoir Macht Frei", it read So for freedom I now wait. But that was yesterday. I’ve had no food nor sleep since then Among a throng of others just like me, All huddled in this iron pen, All crying to be free, All waiting to know our fate. The blood smells fill the air like smoke And fill our minds with a fear That would in former times convoke Stampede, when we knew the wolf was near But we’ve left it far too late. A door of steel opens wide An electric prod descends To drive us till we’re all inside The airless iron pens. How many others have here died? How many met there ends For your tastes to be satisfied? The CO2 now showers down Burning us from within, Burning our lungs as if we drown, Burning our eyes and skin. The screams of pain echo round Soon the carving will begin After which we’re classified A sonderkomando dressed in white Heaves my body to the van That now drives me through the night To yet another butcher man Who will carve me into bite- Sized-pieces so that you can More easily masticate. I’m now marched off to the oven That’s been set at gas mark eight With a timer that will govern, The time it takes to incinerate My carcass. Then with love and Pride, my body’s on your plate. And you sit and salivate.