Holocaust Poems

Hej Hello
Ciao bello
Do you think I am a wild  fellow
Do I have my blood yellow
Hej Hello 
Ciao bello 
Why do you want me on bellow 
Why injustice makes a  mellow
Hej Hello
Ciao bello...Read More

swirling in the depth of the shadow land
A twirling blizzard of unrest,
chaos firmly in place

i felt lost,
bereft, alone,
until a hand reached out
pulling me in


a comfort
immediate
relief
...Read More

I
The LORD revealed to my pastor, and friend, now mentor
That Jerusalem and Babylon aren't mere "places"
They are People Groups, too: some of us will love Babylon ever!
Thus spake Rev. Kevin Sparrow. The Spirit set our paces
- those in the Lamb's...Read More

Letter to My Wife
by Miklos Radnoti
translated by Michael R. Burch

A poem written during the Holocaust in Lager Heidenau, in the mountains above Zagubica, August-September, 1944

Deep down in the darkness hell awaits?silent, mute.
Silence screams in my ears, so I shout,
but no...Read More

Somebody walking around asked that to me
What does Democracy really mean to me
I couldn't say clearly what it means to me
I grew up in valleys and there it was molested everyday infront of me 
I heard it crying loud from...Read More

The Devil’s apostles with shovel and hoe
Plant their crop of death before Winter’s snow
Fertilizing with bullets row upon rows
A perfect preview of Hell I suppose
...Read More

Lay Down Your Arms
by Michael R. Burch

Lay down your arms; come, sleep in the sand.
The battle is over and night is at hand.
Our voyage has ended; there's nowhere to go . . .
the earth is a cinder still faintly aglow.

Lay...Read More

                               ************

American dystopia,where law breaking  is fine.
San Freaksisco, USA, civil living disappeared in no time.

Streets filled with thieves and have become public...Read More

It’s coming can’t you feel it
Something, absolutely wrong
They’re preaching greed and hatred
In the lyrics to their song
The precipice we’re perched upon
Hums! like a ticking bomb
As they herald their New Order
Their Future Babylon

Iniquity in every song
They share the Devils creed
The Puppets...Read More

Humanity must hustle mach schnell -

At warp speed to stave off
further global catastrophe
courtesy portentous tragedy
loosed within Australia
think Pandora's box

harbinger spelling dystopia
across webbed wide world
avast holocaust cremating
irrevocable and irreversible
innocent species, now urgency
of humankind to reckon

eyes crisis endangering all
flora and fauna including
bipedal...Read More

(Rewritten excerpts of The Pied Pipers of Hamelin in today's political scenario)

Folks,
They swarmed the nation,
in every location.
They fought like dogs, and slept like logs,
and pricked the other as if hedgehogs.

They were led by some clever sly duper,
who kept them needy,...Read More

Our Flag Waved 
in a foreign land...

Given the taste, 
of sweet, 
savory, freedom...
The people cry out for more. 
Scared they are about to be, 
mummified forever, 
in the throng of one-ness. 

Your pretty faces, 
will be ugly and all just...Read More

The Mouse

I am small and I do not matter. 
Only to those that care, 
if I live and breathe, 
but that is okay...
as they are all that matter too. 

The people in our lives, 
that come and go, 
some never...Read More

The New Year

It is a glorious gray day, 
a chance of showers,
and even storms of thunder. 
The sky will be a wonder, 
to watch, for hours without end. 

I will be there, 
I will bring my kids. 
We will watch...Read More

Thief of Glory 
 
Faded flowers, 
dead on the table, 
no vase, no water, 
no blood, 
no sacrifice, 
of time, sweat, tears, 
years and fears. 

Regardless of the race, 
unable to meet the rules, 
making up your own, 
to go...Read More

Ber Horvitz translations of Holocaust poems

Der Himmel
"The Heavens"
by Ber Horvitz
translation by Michael R. Burch
 
These skies
are leaden, heavy, gray ...
I long for a pair
of deep blue eyes.
 
The birds have fled
far overseas;
tomorrow I’ll migrate too,
I said ...
 
These gloomy autumn...Read More

Speechless
by Ko Un
translation by Michael R. Burch

At Auschwitz
piles of glasses,
mountains of shoes ...
returning, we stared out different windows....Read More

The lawnmower rolls and grazes the delicate mind of the gracious grass, it reveals the truth about what lies. The lawnmower stops and the person, sorrowfully, stops to see the sinister 
sin he has committed. The grass is to 
Short,...Read More

Bad Discussions 
(Not a nice poem)

By the pound what a sound, 
in morbid delay at death's door. 
Cutting off bits and chunks of souls,
too busy to be made whole. 
Now withered on the blocks, 
slaves to the lochs...
where things beneath...Read More

The Impression

The bows are like...
those of a king, 
but sadly...
I have lost something,
in the passing. 
I waited my turn to speak, 
I was respectful, 
moral and ethical. 

You are a big man, 
anyone can see that. 
I am not taking...Read More

Someone’s Universe


Someone’s universe
Planetoids, however hard they try,
Will always be tiny betwixt mine eye.
Planetoids are midget thrust. planetoids are Lilliputian,
planetoids are small, however still.
Spinning, spinning whirls thrills, well

I cannot help but stop and look 
At  all those innumerable earths.
Do earths...Read More

“Buzz buzz”, the anopheles shrilled the night
As with hunger on grasses, they slumbered without light
Babies, held against skeleton milkless breasts
And gnashing teeth, the men in dispiritedness beat their chests.
 
The greybearded simply await their knell to toll
And in agony, the...Read More

Numbers

Life is measured. 
How much can you do?
Whimsical ideas, 
dashed to the rocks...
in favor of older methods, sure of return.

Courage beyond position, 
ambition to prove out. 
The candy eaten by giants, 
whose hearts have long since, 
been hollowed, to drink...Read More

I
crafting, chiseling, drawing out
a masterpiece
in the shadow of humanity
lonesome voice
in this OUR wilderness
but we went astray, by choice

II
pastors and priests, professors, political elite
they keep falling, after an innocent rise
abusing people
abusing kindnesses
abusing community
yes, after the Holiday, we can talk freely
where we...Read More

No...

Denial.
I am not for, 
I am not against, 
I live...
setting on the fence. 

I don't want to be involved, 
I don't want to take a side, 
I want to hide.
I want to be left alone, 
I am not a bone....Read More