Sunday, April 15, 2007

A Survivor's Moment

[I wrote this poem a number of years ago. It is a scene out of my life. That Holocaust survivor is my father. This poem is dedicated to my father's mother, Chaja Malka Adler, who perished in the Holocaust, alongside her fifteen-year-old daughter, Marjam.]

A Survivor’s Moment


His eyes look directly into mine.
Not playful this time –
More like pleading.

“I don’t even have a picture
of my mother,” he says,
and walks out –
leaving me bewildered,
pensive
and apologetic.

3 comments:

the dreamer said...

Sad and touching.

It must've been hard to grow up with that kind of burden placed upon you.

torontopearl said...

Thanks, Dreamer, for your comment. The "child of a survivor"status wasn't such a burden, but knowing how my father felt about losing his mother and siblings and his not even having anything tangible, other than a memory, hurt me...because he has been hurting all these years.

Stacey said...

How sad. Not even a picture? This brought tears to my eyes. I am so sorry for the pain he (and you, by extension) have lived with because of this most terrible event in history.