Auschwitz

Ash-red the burning sky

the cannons of chimneys

spit out souls

 

Here come you who want to warm

your hands in the hell of fire

partake in crime made legal

beyond all record

of man’s violence

 

Here come you, abjectly cowed

able to turn a deaf ear

to the cry – the children’s cry

in this low building

where murder is industry

 

A civilized people

outdo the Genghis Khan

outrank the hordes of Huns

thus seal their doom

 

Put a white sheet of silence

over the low building

hang a veil over the burning sky

hush the cry of terror

 

Cut out this unbelievable

from the heart of memory

too much for human eye or ear

too much for human soul to bear

 

Earth never knew such crime

Free us from a witness’s burden

Such sorrow is God’s to bewail

 

I saw Him cry.

Sweden, 1956