Tattoo: For Yom Hashoah

No one makes it through life whole without the Branding: marks, scars, tattoos that testify To sorrows endur’d, bitter pills swallow’d; Some say the inner invisible ones Wounds deepest. My tattoo on the forearm Pierces through to my soul like a sliver Infected, pussy, smarting constantly— I was sub-human, thought expendable. “Schneller! Schneller!” Under blinding lights bark Camp guards as we stumble blindly, free from Cattle car stench upon arrival. My Precious Gretel taken away at once. Workers to the left, showers to the right I’d die in your place, Love, one-thousand times! © 2016 David W. Palmer