Soles Here----Souls Gone

Musicians played classics as condemned marched under “ARBEIT MACHT FREI.”
Losing their “SOLES” and “SOULS” the future options for each gassee!

For every pair of empty leather “SOLES” you see,
they took a lovely “SOUL” away from you and me.

They also took their hair, gold teeth and skin,
piled them all up, then started over again.

Experimentation without permission gave modern medicine lots of cash,
the line perpetually kept moving with dogs, guns and the heavy lash.

Imagine screams coming from showers that NO ONE cared to hear,
“ZYKLON B” poured in from above, the dead dragged out the rear.

Even today there are those that say it never, ever evolved,
though a despot once told the world, it was a “problem he solved!”

We’ve all seen the pictures, that wasn’t a vacation passenger train,
Muster “LEATHER VOICES,” whose SOULS cry out “NEVER AGAIN!!!”


*”arbeit macht frei,” (work will set you free). The internees had to march under that 
infamous sign upon arrival at Auschwitz.    Poem for Leather Voices contest.

Copyright © | Year Posted 2010



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Date: 6/20/2010 6:36:00 AM
John, many congratulations on your 5th place in Abe's excellent contest. I am so glad you made it to the winners podium with this gem >> James
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Date: 6/19/2010 5:27:00 PM
Congrats John on your winning poem in the Leather Voices Contest.. a wonderful write and victorious win my friend.. enjoy your special moment in the winners circle.. with luv from the "Sweetheart"
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Date: 6/19/2010 5:22:00 PM
yes TRUE..horrid..and each soul that assisted in the death camps.....will reach their own final destination ..even if its to watch what they did OVER & OVER.....touching write...understanding compassionate...thank you.
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Date: 6/19/2010 4:50:00 PM
congrats on winning fifth place in my contest " leather voices"
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Date: 5/11/2010 3:13:00 AM
sad and tortuous poem, still hard to believe that can happen. there is still alot of hate in the world. Eye opening poem.
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Date: 5/11/2010 2:02:00 AM
Really like you compare the Souls to Soles in this sad reflection of a travesty against mankind, John. Well done! Love, Carolyn (and best wishes for the contest)
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Date: 5/9/2010 5:43:00 PM
A nice title very expressive one for the poem. Good luck in the contest
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Date: 5/9/2010 1:39:00 PM
John, you have constructed the horrifying details in poetic form. I am sure this one's going to be amongst the winners...Raul
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Date: 5/9/2010 9:02:00 AM
John, I suspect your mother-in-law and I are of the same generation. I spent 19 consecutive years in RC schools prior to the Vatican Council. It was a different time and it left marks that are both good and bad. But I could never be anything but a practicing Catholic. Faith does that to some of us. Donal
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Date: 5/9/2010 9:00:00 AM
Exceptional poetry for Abe's contest John. The images from these camps bears witness to mans inhumanity to man. I wish you all the best in this contest >> James
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Date: 5/9/2010 7:55:00 AM
John this is absolutely amazing .. a true enactment of the exact sequence that took place.. and the comparison of SOLE with SOUL is dynamic.. a definite high place for this one if not first .. above the rest..my friend..good luck in Abe's contest.. luv.. Linda-Marie..
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