Sweet Melodies
They play sweet melodies
Inside the electric fences of Auschwitz.
An orchestra of inmates
Driven to excellence
By the threat of terror.
They serenade the prisoners
As they are marched to death
With joyful tunes of carnival
To breathe with their last breath.
Notes rise in the air
To mingle with the smoke;
Rising above the putrid stink
That dissipates all hope.
Opher – 27.12.2024
I wrote this while watching the tattooist of Auschwitz. An orchestra serenaded the newly arrived as they went to be sorted. A bunch of Nazi troopers watched, eager to execute any that failed to provide the right note. They projected a gay, jaunty melody. Behind them the chimneys belched smoke.