Reflections of Pilgrimage to Auschwitz processed through poetry

Reflections of Pilgrimage to Auschwitz processed through poetry

Lee Barnes

Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Deuteronomy 31.6 / NIV Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.�

Hebrews 13.5 / NIV

Seven Stones

Stone 1 Journey to the unknown Fragile and cyclical patterns of thought Ground withdrawn from me.

Distanced left and bodies drawn into the cold.

A stone, once out of reach, felt beneath my feet. ___

Stone 2 Warmth a luxury of the blessed?

Where is this place?

Feeling shrouded An invisible burqa to guard the soul The wheels begin to turn What will we learn? ___

Stone 3 It is too much.

Perception now defined as reality.

Too much moving.

O to be still. ___

Stone 4 Hallowed earth a stone’s throw from gallows.

Why would a torturer think of tea?

Why would a murderer be faceless?

Is this real?

Hallowed earth a stone’s throw from rape.

Is it a stained treasure upon my heart or a treasured piece of art?

Hallowed earth a stone’s throw from gallows. ___ Stone 5 You open like a slanted door hinged with age Hung tall and pulled deep Anchored in earth ready, prepared, sweetly waiting Even a Sage cannot hide behind a thin tree.

I chose to eat the snow to reveal the ground My mouth stolen from its birth and my knuckles fractured from emptying the earth.

You may strip me of me You may erase layers of history You may reduce me to a skeletal tent for all to see And yet Once more I will enter your Lent.

Once more. ___ Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you."

Deuteronomy 31.6 / NIV Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”

Hebrews 13.5 / NIV

Stone 6 I held one of your children in my arms Covered their face Breathed the fumes in their place.

To see one survive Just one alive.

I held one of your children in my arms. ___

Stone 7 There can be no fullness no completion no perfection no redemption no maturity as this stone has only sharp cutting ripping edges and sides.

It is too easy to leave.

Evil reveals my skeleton.

You said ‘never leave…’

My tear like a snowdrop of lead burrowed into your melting snow and I will never let you go.