please bear in mind i was 13 when i wrote this ;;

Night

(based on the novel “Night” by Elie Wiesel)

-

My, what lovely days

In that little town

Sighet was a peaceful place

No trouble was abound

-

My longing for religion

Was odd for a boy like me

I wanted to be taught the cabbala

But my father wouldn’t agree

-

One day the Germans came

But us they didn’t trouble

‘Til one day they forced us to move

Into two ghettos on the double

-

Then we heard some rumors

That the end was coming near

We did not believe them

So we pretended not to hear

-

But I heard a story

From someone I knew

And then I figured out

That those rumors were all true

-

I knew we had to leave

But they wouldn’t dare

I could not abandon them

So their arrogance kept me there

-

The next day at dawn

Transports came into the streets

They took them group by group

After tortured standing in the heat

-

We were taken to the trains

That would take us who-knows-where

And loaded us up like cargo

With stone-cold piercing stares

-

The ride was long and hard

And Madame Schächter drove our nerves

She screamed, “Fire!”, but it wasn’t there

And they couldn’t quiet her

-

We came to a place called Auschwitz

Of which I’d never heard

And we stared at chimneys flaming

Not able to say a word

-

As we followed the huge crowd

Men went left, women right

I followed by my father

And watched my mom and sisters slip from sight

-

As we were forming fives

Someone asked how old was I

“Fourteen”, I replied, but he said,

“You’re eighteen if you don’t wanna’ die.”

-

A soldier came and told us

Of our flesh used as fuel

Revolt roused in young men’s hearts

They said he was cruel

-

Those who revolted

Were quickly struck down

Fathers begged sons not to fight

And revolt unwound

-

A soldier asked my age,

Condition, and what I did.

“Eighteen,” I lied, “and healthy,

A farm life was what I lived.”

-

He showed me to the left

I waited for my dad

He was pointed to the left too

Oh, how we were glad

-

Someone came and said

We were headed towards the fire

We saw the crematory stacks real near

So we didn’t think him a liar

-

We walked by the stacks

Packing their load into the flames

Women, children, babies

Burning shadows without names

-

The crematory stacks grew nearer

So my deep fear grew

But relief came as we turned left

Release was on Father’s face too

-

We then were sent to barracks

And told to strip to shoes and belt

With those in hand we stood there

Unable to know just how we felt

-

A soldier looked us over

To separate weak and strong

The strong ones sent to work in crematories

The others stayed there prolonged

-

Next was to the barber

All hair on bodies shaved

Then we were released into a crowd

Unhumanly creatures- all the same

-

We met some people we knew

As we froze in the blustering winds

Then were forced from barrack to barrack

Beaten without end

-

Then they commanded, “Run!”

And we did as we were told

We ceased to be men, but more

Like zombies in the cold

-

We were sent to the showers

The hot water wonderful

Then sent back into the snow

Our short pleasure void and null

-

We went to get our cloths

Thrown at us as we ran by

We ceased to be men, but more like

Phantoms to the eye

-

We stood for what seemed forever

Knee deep in the snow

It might’ve been only a minute

I really couldn’t know

-

We were herded into new barracks

A roof, four wall, and a muddy floor

We fell asleep standing since we couldn’t sit

We were men no more

-

The soldier finally entered

And took the last of our valuables-

Anything that we held dear-

From a pair of shoes to the slightest gold

-

They didn’t notice my mud-covered shoes

And for THAT I thanked God:

My His name be blessed and magnified-

Yitgadal veyitkadach shmé raba!

-

A soldier started talking and said

In a concentration camp, we were

We had to work or else

In crematories be burned

-

My father asked for the bathroom

He was knocked down without a word

My father was struck before my eyes

But I hadn’t stirred

-

I had lost my individuality

I think the same for all the rest

They engraved numbers on our left arms

Our sense of identity had left

-

We were known as numbers

A-7713 was my name

We no longer felt hate or love

We were all the same

-

Some still talked of God

And how He would come and save us.

I did not deny His existence,

But I doubted his absolute justice.

-

Skilled workers were shipped elsewhere

And it was finally Father’s and my time

We slowly went through Germany

Girls flirting with the soldiers in line

-

After four long hours

We had finally arrived

Our new camp: Buna

The iron gate closed behind

-

Someone stole my beloved shoes

Which filled me with aggravation

But the next thing to worry over

Was passing medical inspection

-

Inspection was no problem

I continued to do my work

But one day I was summoned

By the dentist- a greedy jerk

-

I knew he wanted to take

The gold crown from my tooth

But I complained I was ill, and he said

When I felt better, to return to his booth

-

I returned again with the same excuse

So he pardoned me once more

But I was lucky because he got fired

For taking gold for personal store

-

From then on I only worked

And worried of my soup and bread

And when my father got beaten

I only watched his blood shed

-

I was angry at him for not knowing

How to avoid the blows

That’s what camp life had made of me

A sick and heartless soul

-

One day a foreman saw my crown

He told me, “Give it here.”

I told him no, like Father said

But he knew how to get it by fear

-

He knew Father had no military past

And made him march in line

Father couldn’t keep rhythm

So he was beaten like a swine

-

I told him I gave up

I gave my crown to him

But he was transferred not long after

So I lost it for no reason

-

One day our barrack leader

Forced us far from our building

I was looking for food in the back

And heard voices yelling

-

I snuck a look and there he was

Lying with a girl, and then

It struck me kind of odd

To go to so much trouble for a sin

-

It seemed so outrageous

That I laughed out loud

He heard me and knew

That I couldn’t repeat what I saw

-

So just to make sure, he whipped me

I only felt the first few and fainted

After the final twenty-fifth I awoke

And knew Father suffered more than I did

-

One Sunday while sleeping in

Air-raid sirens began to sound

We were made to assemble inside

Wanderers were shot to the ground

-

We heard planes overhead

As soldiers pushed us to different places

We heard rumors of the end of war

And of destruction of German bases

-

My foot became wounded

How I wanted to die

But my father said, “Be strong.”,

So I decided to survive

-

Father became ill

And he made me slow

I refused to want to be rid of him

Though how my mind wanted so

-

We slept in bunk-beds

In our new barracks

I traded spots to the same bunk

That my dysenteric father was at

-

When I aroused the next day-

January 29, 1945-

I found someone else in Father’s place

Struggling to stay alive

-

There were no prayers at his grave

No candles lit to his memory

I hadn’t responded to his last words-

My name, cried for in agony

-

I didn’t weep, for I could not

I had no more tears

What little sorrow I could muster

Was hardly sincere

-

As time went on and on

My sense of identity stayed destroyed

After my father’s death

I could feel neither pain nor joy

-

One day, the war just ended

Some deportees shipped out each day

But a battle started before

Our group could get away

-

The battle was over quick, and the first

U.S. tank arrived at six pm

Throwing ourselves at food

Was our first act as free men

-

I wanted to go home

But food poisoning made me ill

I spent two weeks between life and death

But one day I was finally well

-

I looked into the mirror

Waiting to see the boy of Sighet

But in the depths of the reflection

Only a corpse gazed back

-

Those eyes were his, and not mine

They were of my body but not my soul

My sea of personality

Was now but an empty bowl