At Yad Vashem

Janus Korchek and the Orphan Children

AT YAD VASHEM

Israel Pilgrimage--2006

 

We are given an hour, only an hour

to walk through on our own—

 

It’s quiet

Barely any talking

No smiling

 

People move slowly

observing, listening

some brush away tears

some shake their heads

 

We walk along the Path

of Righteous Gentiles

hesitate at trees

planted in honor

of Oscar Schindler

of Corrie TenBoom

 

We see shoes of the dead, eyeglasses

photographs, paintings

poems

 

The eternal flame shudders

as we swallow hard at the words:

Never Again

 

Outside, we pause at the bronze

of Yanus Korchek embracing

the orphan children—

the ones he accompanied

into a crematorium

 

At the Children’s Memorial

the darkness is assuaged

by so many mirrored reflections

of flickering candles

We read—

1,500,000 children

 

An hour, only an hour

is even too much

for us to bear

 

Maude Carolan Pych

 

 

I went to a poetry reading at Watchung Booksellers in Montclair, NJ, this evening, to hear my friends Elizabeth Marchitti and EJ Emerson read their poems. I applaud them for a fine presentation. An open reading followed, so I was pleased to read two poems from "A Poet's Quest" including the selection above.