Blood in the Snow

She trudged on. Scarlet blood weeping upon the snow. Abandoning shredded boots, Barefoot. Frozen tears and their gray tracks. Cold daggers came, Swiftly burning, Slowly tearing. Numb exposed flesh felt no pain. Words huddled in their prison, Not wanting freedom, Forgotten, Lost, Dying. She trudged on. Past memories of agony. Slaughtered mother. The cadaverous face. The child’s shrill ringing, And ringing. Higher and higher the tone, Pleading. Higher and higher the voice, Wailing. A sudden crack, A sudden fall, Silence. The unfallen tears, She trudged on. Forced to the iron gates, The steady path of the weak. The weak are led to die, The strong were made to die. The gilded star now trampled, The swastika banner, Hard. Stiff. Vast. Hollow cheeks, Bloodied lips, Grim grey corpses, Those sunken dead eyes, The stench of the walking dead. A burned oder lingering. Sheets of lifeless tresses plummeted, Beneath the rusted shears they collapsed, Falling from freedom they sank. She stumbles. Father, father! His warm starry eyes, His kind hearty laugh, There father is, Swinging. The frayed rope. The pendulum, To and fro, Back and forth, Swinging. Swaying with the wind. Those starry eyes, Now vacant, Now gone. She trudges on. Life, life, the beloved life, Butchering of the innocent, The shrill ringing, The pendulum swinging, Brother’s blood splattering, Sister’s body slamming. The gun smoking in the winter night, Those smoldering ghostly wisps, Those slain souls weeping. Each tear a lost memory. She trudged on. God, God, o’ dearest Creator, Do you not care for me? Do you not care for your people? Do you not care for your children? Why have you forsaken us? Why this cup of bitter tears? We are butchered, Sheep led to the slaughter house. Our mothers, Our fathers, Our brothers, Our sisters, Silent screams, Glassy eyes, Bursting hearts. Out stretched hands, Why? She trudged on, Snow, Cold, Icy wind, High frozen moon. Scarlet rain, This dance of pain, Staggering steps. Fallen. Sunrise is arriving, Each gilded beam gliding across the twined wire, Quick, my child, come. Come to us my love, Return to freedom’s embrace. The snow is thawing, Our midnight had fled, Come. She ran on.