Saving Dachau

Plumes of midnight smoke rise into the sky

An acrid stench permeates the frigid air as we march toward the black smoke pyres

Walls of twisted cold metal are now visible in the winter haze

What is this place?

As we reach the silent gates, walking skeletons, draped with skin shuffle toward freedom

Their kind eyes pierce our hearts

Compassion flows out, renewing their spirits

Oh, these nameless prisoners, friend or foe must be helped!

We the soldiers, brothers in war, give up all we have to these living corpses

In the swirling confusion we find our way around the camp

Rows of lifeless houses cascade down an empty gravel road

The stench, now identified as rotting flesh

Twists our faces, quivers our veteran stomachs

With each new death pile found the emaciating horror drains the roses from our cheeks

As we stand beneath the death clouds and shadows

Faith purges from our souls

Inside the fiery crematoriums lie bodies

A holocaust to God

But only we have answered their prayers

What do we have to feed their dying bodies?

What do we have to quench their burning fears?

Anger rises like steam from boiling blood

How could Man be so terribly cruel?

How could God forsake his “chosen people”?

KILL, KILL, KILL

Pulses in my mind with every quickening heartbeat

The perpetrators of these illicit crimes against humanity MUST DIE!

Only blood will squelch the fires of my raging heart

Faith is lost forever