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Matthew Ostrove

 
THE SURVIVOR: A POEM BY MATTHEW OSTROVE

A Poem by Matthew Ostrove

by Matthew Ostrove, April 11, 2011

He wakes up wet lying on a stone for the night brought dreams of death,
His body, shriveled so thin that you can see his every movement of breath.
He looms in the darkness looking for a reason for why this is happening to him.
Did he make the right decision to leave his family in hiding to get caught?
Was leaving them was that his greatest sin?
Naked and broken with nothing but his skin to make him feel human he looks to the sky.
Oh, lord of all living things why me, why my people, why do so many of us have to die?
His vision of survival comes from seeing an image of white among the dark haze
He clings on to his faith and wants to live and not be tormented by this psychological maze.
A number written on his skin is fresh and will forever remind him of this time.
If he survives to tell his story he’ll say the Holocaust made him blind.
To all that was beautiful and pure when all the images were through the wiring of the fence.
He’s now a survivor living in Canada, sees again beauty and human purity and repents.
He asks himself still, why did I survive and so many others had to disappear?
What can I do now to make my life complete my G-D what more can I fear?
The light cannot pass when hatred fuels the human soul like years before.
Six million died because of simply who they were
Now we need six million more. 
Dedicated to the ones who survived the Holocaust the greatest atrocity in our human existence.

 
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