At Last

Give me death.

Something in me beats me into

Life.

It must be the dog which is me, the dog who is not me.

The man, the one with eyes full of nothing, he said

You'll be shot like dogs.

And there was nothing in me which disagreed.

I'm just a dog.

A dog in the darkness.

I used to search for light,

Now it hurts too much.

Please, end it.

Why do they keep hitting me?

The darkness is driven into me.

Which each new wound, I'm infected with night.

I am evil. I am wrong.

One day, I stole my father's bread.

They stole my soul.

As I lie here, I wonder:

Where did I go?

Where am I now, really?

As my body lies here dying,

I make a wish.

A wish of light.

A wish for the children in the flames.

For the old men who have lost, are lost.

For the Nazis.

Yes, I wish for the Nazis.

The Nazis.

I wish that our souls are in a place of light.

As the dogs kill and die here in Nazi Germany,

Let our souls be in a place of light.

The wish is finished; it flies up, up into the sky.

I open my eyes.

And realize that I was wishing aloud.

The guns pointed at my face, at the face of the dog.

The Nazi, wielder of the gun.

The Nazi is crying.

Tears, real tears.

They flow.

They flow like blood from an open wound.

The Nazi cries.

He has heard my wish.

And I say, I'm sorry.

As his finger, bloody with our blood, mixed with his tears,

Pushes the trigger.

At last.