Constellation Of Innocence

Some found billets in abandoned houses Some broke furniture to feed a fire Horses, stabled in the freezing blizzard Perished, were stolen, or slain to fill the pot Germans sniped and harried from the fringes Shot and shell made travel a screaming hell Famished, the fugitives faced the scourging gales of the North Like flagellants, enduring whips of ice And then, the ghetto, place of last abode Footpaths were slippery, walking on them a penance Food grew shorter, neighbours' corpses plundered Sick, wounded, famished, weaponless, worn out Even the children wore the yellow star The constellation of innocence When Mendel looked down on his brother Frozen to death in the street beneath the stars ‘I would have sold my boots at the railway station, To lie there in your place, ' he said The moon in its mighty mansion in the sky Glittered, the heavens seeded by Death's disciples