As Far As I Can

Sore to the bone Running on a drop of energy Just gotta push through I'll rest eventually My shoulder has gone numb But my body feels her weight As if she's gotten heavy Since her unconscious state If I could, I'd stop right now But who knows how safe it is here And if I could even start again I may fall asleep I fear Soon my body will give up But I'll make it as far as I can And hopefully haven isn't too far And I can put her in helping hands Walking all day and night It's hard not to think on past And any thought I come up with Has me struggling to hold sobs back I've kept my ears open Trying to focus on only sounds But all I keep on hearing Is my shoes crunch on foreign grounds Bang. I hear it softly. So far but still so near. Bang. Another gunshot sounds And I've collapsed in fear. I close my eyes but another goes off This time in a memory And now I'm filled with rage At how repulsive humans can be My thoughts turn to my baby Slipping off of my shoulder I set her down and examine her Bloodstained gown and skin colder My worst nightmare but it can't be true I listen in for her sweet breath No. No No. No No. No No. What's this silence? This isn't death. This time I don't close my eyes I see a sight that makes me sob Memory of the last I saw my wife And now my baby's with her mom. Each one of us left covered in crimson By a monster, a gunshot, a blow Their death is the death of me. This is as far as I can go. May 2010 Inspired by Morris Gleitzman's novel "Once," a historical fiction about a boy in Poland during the Holocaust.