‘Birkenau’ – the Birch Wood. <br />Gathered among the beautiful birches <br />outside Auschwitz – Birkenau <br />the Chosen People waited, hoping in vain. <br />Deliberately deceived, mothers, daughters, <br />Fathers, sons, frail, infirm, families, waited. <br />Only delayed because the chambers <br />and the ovens were full, no Exodus. <br />Still waiting, waiting for us. <br /> <br />Lost treasures, among the roots <br />a button, a gold ring, a child’s buckle, survive. <br />Carved in birchbark a plea – ‘remember’, <br />cries out for the lost tribe <br />this grove once mocked. <br />The birches and the memory still grow, pointedly, <br />heavenward, screaming at God. <br />Golgotha – place of skulls. <br />Birkenau – place of birches. <br />Even the trees were corrupted.<br /><br />Martin Swords<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-birches-at-birkenau/
