Skip to main content

Never Shall I Forget

Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, that turned my life into one long night seven times sealed. 
It was like a page torn from a book
 Like a dream in the first hours of dawn
We felt the abyss opening beneath us
We were all condemned to the same fate- still unknown
 Finally, our illusions devoured us
Consumed us
I was face to face with the angel of death
I don’t know how I survived

Never shall I forget that smoke.
Fire! I see a fire! I see a fire!
We saw the flames rising from a tall chimney against a black sky
Fire! I see a fire! 
Jews look! Look at the fire! Look at the flames!
Hunger-Thirst-Fear-Selection-Fire-Chimney
And then, there was nothing, only the darkness of night

Never shall I forget the small faces of the children whose bodies I saw transformed into smoke under a silent sky.
Wide, dreamy eyes
 Divine suffering
The children and their fear
 He caused thousands of children to burn in His mass graves
 Yes, I did see this, with my own eyes.
Children being thrown into the flames
Surely, it was a dream
Never shall I forget those flames that consumed my faith forever.
And from within me, I heard a voice
Don’t lose faith in yourself!
Yet I did
 I was afraid
 Blessed be G-ds name?
 Why? But why would I bless him?
Every fiber in me rebelled
 In the beginning, there was faith- which is childish; trust-which is vain, and illusion-which is dangerous
No more faith
No more strength

Never shall I forget the nocturnal silence that deprived me for all eternity of the desire to live. To the last moment, people clung to hope
 We were withered trees in the heart of the desert
Veiled by despair
My soul had been invaded-devoured-by a black flame
I was nothing but a body
A Corpse contemplating me
The look in his eyes as he gazed at me will never leave me

Never shall I forget those moments that murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to ashes.
One more stab to the heart, one more reason to hate. One less reason to live
I heard the pounding of my heart Beating in my ears
The morning star shone in the sky
I was nothing but ashes now
Never shall I forget those things, even were I condemned to live as long as God Himself. 
Never
Labels:

Comments

  1. AnonymousOctober 24, 2018 at 4:07 PM

    I really liked how you put one part in bold and below it responded to it! Even if you just read the bolded parts, you're left thinking about how cruel it really was to survive that and to have the memories of it. after reading Night, seeing the films, and going to the Museum, I've been wondering what fate would've been better, to die in the camps, or to live but forever have those memories haunting you. I think surviving the Holocaust is a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because you get to restart your life, and your story can be heard to help prevent this from ever happening again. But it's a curse, because you went through such cruel things and saw such cruel things that you will never be able to forget, and most people lost family and friends that they will always remember and miss. Overall you had a very well written and powerful poem! Great work!

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousOctober 27, 2018 at 5:25 AM

    Thank you so much Malaysia! I agree with what you said about surviving the holocaust is a blessing and a curse. I think that is really interesting.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousOctober 27, 2018 at 8:14 AM

    Aliya,

    Of course, I love your poem. But here, I am going to say exactly why. First, your formatting and choice to use Elie's poem as a foundation and adding to it yourself is quite incredible. Second, the word choice and feeling that you are reading between his lines is stirring and compelling. Lastly, the message you send through your words, the power and sadness, the remembrance and sorrow, is amazing. Your words sound like they come from someone far older than you. Overall, this is remarkable.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousOctober 29, 2018 at 12:03 PM

    Thank you so much Ava! once again, your comment is written better than my post

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Artifact Post - Eliza

Four Jewish children laugh and talk outside the Konvo ghetto in Lithuania.  Taken by George Kadish https://collections.ushmm.org/iiif-b/assets/706623 https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/pa1045736
Post a Comment
Read more

blogpost 5 - Malcolm

The about the Holocaust has made me more aware of how easy it is for us to turn to evil and believe it’s right. When I was first learning about the Holocaust, the word fear seemed to stand out the most to me. The Germans blamed all of their problems on the Jews because of fear, they put the Jews in ghettos because of fear, or they tried to annihilate all the Jews because of fear. I think it is really important to pay attention to people’s feelings especially feelings like fear and desperation. I feel like we, the world let this happen. We allowed this to happen because of our arrogance. We expected that just because we gave Germany a whole bunch of rules to follow and took some of their land, they would immediately become subordinate to us. And even after the Holocaust we in America allowed things like this happen during the civil rights movement. They’re are some people out there that no matter what you do, will not become good people and it is our job to protect people from those h...
Post a Comment
Read more

Blog Post #5-Lachlan.A

This experience of the Holocaust affect me on an emotional level. Before this experience I did not know much about the Holocaust I just had heard of horrible man named Adolf Hitler and the genocide he had created. After reading the book Night and after the documentaries and films that we watched I've been slapped by reality. I've been dwelling a lot on my own as well, about how people could have so much hatred on the people who are their neighbors. Just ordinary people that have so much hatred. I'm just so confused how people could just back stab their neighbors as soon as a new political party rose. Ordinary people turning into monsters you don't see that everyday. I've taken away so many things from this unit. I think the thing that just draws me the most from in this unit is to never forget. So many innocent people died just because of what they practiced and what they look like. So the least I can do is memorialize them by never forgetting what happened to them....
Post a Comment
Read more