"for the dead and the living, we must bear witness."
- Elie Wiesel
I see the aching words of Elie Wiesel
born in black and white: the metal eyes
of Nazi Germany on Israel,
the numbered numberless, the animalized
who once were men -- whose children will not know
the innocence of childhood again --
and still, the falling ash, the burning snow,
the deep, remorseless appetite of sin.
And there am I, entirely, one of them,
lost in the heavy silence of the room
without the power to conquer or condemn
the tyranny -- with only the power to loom.
Too many think of hell and live in fear
of death, and never know that hell was here.
Adding your comment:
Lita
) but I've come to prefer it. There's something about the enjambments that make their own dynamics (e.g. my favorite lines in this one are the first three, largely for: "the metal eyes of Nazi Germany on Israel"). It might be an acquired taste; I used to loathe contemporary verse for this very reason. Now I find it more artistically appealing.
