I Am Too (A Holocaust Poem)

I Am Too

I’m closer to a piece of fruit at the market

Than I am to a human being.

Fruit is labeled-I am too.

Fruit is numbered-I am too.

Fruit is shipped-I am too.

But most importantly, fruit is bruised.

And I am too.

I’m treated like produce, and yet….

I’m expected TO produce.

Each day, I see the sign.

“Work makes one free” is its message.

I pray that it’s true.

Fruit doesn’t last forever;

It’s desirable, but only for a time.

Because it expires.

It rots.

I am too.