Dark Terror

The absence of color
Dark terror
Narrow corridors lined with
Somber faces
Gray outlines of
Images of death
A half a century on

Time stands still

A hundred thousand arms raised
To salute the bringer of death
“zeig heil” – the cry
Echoes of insanity
The black plague of the
20th century

Shout with silent screams
Horror – replacing dreams
Such unspeakable things were done
They must be told to everyone
Memorials and monuments
To impact the flesh
For the living - to remember – the dead

For in the shadow of places we know
Iraq, Bosnia, or Kosovo
“Zeig heil” echoes again and again

Once a whisper then a shout
Peace in our time – the resolution
Shattered lives – the final solution

And men decried – never again

Pray for peace
That starts in our own hearts
And shed the true enemy –
Hatred

Bind the dogs of war once more
Shutting at once the ancient cage
Of tribal feuds and insane rage

And remember the path
Where prejudice leads
And forget not
It’s unspeakable deeds

Remember


From a visit to the Holocaust Museum
Washington D.C.
December 30th 1998
Todd R. Burns