Auschwitz Mother

AUSCHWITZ MOTHER mother, your skin is so thin the light shines on your face so bright i can read my book without opening the blinds or wondering if today you will be kind. there is something truly miraculous about you. you have survived the death of a baby, a husband, a son, yet you will have none of it for yourself. your old bones rattle when you walk and when you talk i lean forward to catch a word here and there while you lean forward to bite off my ear. and when the plates are on the table i am perfectly able to catch your gypsy curse. (you think i should have suffered worse.) mother, you are neither gypsy nor jew but with your dark hair, dark eyes and wicked smile you somehow managed to fly high over the smoke and never once choked on the odor of ash and hair. mother, you even managed to walk through the gate and go straight to those you loved more. (it wasn't me, was it?) mother, is it simply there was no room in the (your) womb or did you know when i emerged different and blue i managed to know the true you? mother, your skin is so thin i can see the darkness by the light of day so believe me when i say: you have not escaped. they are coming for you today. Copyrighted March 22, 2011