The first weakening of night
picks out telephone lines,
black against sky.
The eyelid of a garage door
lurches laboriously up.
A car coughs blue breath.
With aerosols and plastic scrapers
clandestine delights of frostwebs
are raked to chemical sludge.
Starter motors whine.
Windshields cloud with pain.
Gears grind teeth.
An electric train
gingerly
utters inarticulate from the sheds,
groaning over cold joints.
Thinking grimly
of tunnels ahead,
it flares with ill-humor
crossing the points.
On unworked land beside the track,
a fox is heading home.
Gliding through
beneath the "keep out" sign,
he grins at the engine,
which just judders along,
headlights trained
on parallel lines
which glint ahead,
reflecting lurid signal red,
extending out, but never meeting,
towards the vanishing point.
work
doesn't
kill
anyone
idleness
does
if you don't have work to do,
to have productive leisure,
while you rest,
peel potatoes, or break rocks.
cut logs for the fire...
you will live happily your whole life...!
A victim of the Holocaust
Laments so many lives were lost
Their Christian friends
Can't make amends
Although they all have double-crossed
The first weakening of night
picks out telephone lines,
black against sky.
The eyelid of a garage door
lurches laboriously up.
A car coughs blue breath.
With aerosols and plastic scrapers
clandestine delights of frostwebs
are raked to chemical sludge.
Starter motors whine.
Windscreens cloud with pain.
Gears grind teeth.
An electric train
gingerly
utters inarticulate from the sheds,
groaning over cold joints.
Thinking grimly
of tunnels ahead,
it flares with ill-humor
crossing the points.
On unworked land beside the track,
a fox is heading home.
Gliding through
beneath the "keep out" sign,
he grins at the engine,
which just judders along,
headlights trained
on parallel lines
which glint ahead,
reflecting lurid signal red,
extending out, but never meeting,
towards the vanishing point.
We were afraid
Constantly
Afraid
They could
Kill us at any moment
For no reason suitable
For taking a life
Little food
Little water
Little salvation
Nothing but work
After all
Arbeit Macht Frei
Is what we lived by
Every day
Forced to live by it
To have it mockingly
Branded into us
But
It was all a lie
We
Were
Never.
Free…
Look in a mirror
notice your face
Is it you ?
or has someone
taken Your place
What do you see
explore each line,
Somewhere near
among the features
you will find
that your face
is just a mirror
That reflects
your thoughts
and wishes
Meditate and
self-reflect
And you can do this
while doing dishes
Do you want to hear it again ?
Where are these cattle cars taking us to?
Instantly a stench travels through my pours.
A sign translates “Work sets you free.” For Jews?
Children are shaking from their very core,
men on one side, woman on the other.
We’re stripped of belongings, to the showers.
Chaos breaks out, a scream from my mother.
Nobody runs to their loved ones, we’re cowards.
The flames burned such a beautiful hue,
crawling up the skin of the innocent.
Thousands of bodies scattered around you,
causing you to be only vigilant.
These cattle cars have taken us to death.
This is not a prison; This is hell on earth.
ARBEIT MACHT FREI *
Each metro station should have this sign.
Descend to the hot abyss, to the line.
Steel monster vomits people to the platform,
Ingests another load, another swarm.
Roar of machines. No protest voice -
Up the Mauthausen quarry steps, no choice.
Silent victims into the Auschwitz chamber -
Tiring, lifeless journey to nowhere.
Crowded metro carriage glass-cage:
Same strangers every day - no gender, no age:
Lost silent souls packed, almost touch but never do;
Close-facing, but eyes far-looking through you.
As animals trying to avoid fights but never fleeing,
No one knows or wants to know your inner being,
Your feeling, your thought, your life, your care.
Mechanical hell on wheels going nowhere. **
……………………………………………………………………………………………..
* Infamous sign on Nazi concentration camp entrance,
translates as "Work will make you free".
**Poem is dedicated to the 2 000 000 people who use the
metro daily in St. Petersburg, Russia.
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