a rail to nowhere going along with the herd for a ride

I cannot see myself despite my Jewishness

going into a cattle car under anyone's volition

let alone my own

I cannot see myself riding the rails of a cattle car

packed inside like human sardines and someone else

holds the keys to my future

I cannot see myself climbing into the car

nor letting my family climb in this car

without a fight

I see disheveled disoriented Jews going

for a ride, one-way tickets clutched in

hands not made of fists

they travel to Auschwitz or Buchenwald

I wonder about the travel agent that sold these tickets

and the tour guide from hell that gave them the ride

I cannot see vacationing in Poland as a holiday

This was not Noah's ark it was Hitler's ark, Nazi's ark

They were not taking two of every species

they were taking six million of one

But I cannot see myself walking calmly without a fight,

suffering the dishonor of mental dismemberment

slowly to holocaust away.

Number tattoos are not rosebuds or nametags

Some say you were not there I say I was and am reborn yet again

This was death camp and I do not hear cries of joy,

only the sounds of vultures parading in goosesteps.

But the Nazis were very polite in their violence

their uniforms crisply cut bleeding the fingers

that clutched them.

The camps so spotless and scrubbed

even the ovens were self-cleaning

I wonder who made them.

The Nazis so well spoken relocation they preached,

the ghetto is so dirty, scour your soul, clean up your act

take a shower in this stall without drains.

They said it so politely

Very few resisted and went willingly

going on one-way holiday, bags packed

with all perishables

Where were the men

Where were the women

as mankind and children were

merchandised and victimized?

They were just following orders

the Nazis were just following orders

the Jews were just following orders

today's Nazis are still following orders

I cannot see myself following orders

I will not follow orders.