THIS POEM IS NOT PRESENTED AS I INTENDED (ie. DOUBLE SPACED).
THIS HAS BEEN DONE BY PERSONS BEYOND MY CONTROL
THUS DIMINISHING THE READING EXPERIENCE.
🙈
Two hundred smiling orphans
Playing in the sun.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Jolly, having fun.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Protected by their master...
Two hundred smiling orphans
Destined for disaster.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Understanding their new ways.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Enjoying happy days.
Taught by Janusz Korczak,
Father to them all,
Two hundred smiling orphans
Learning to walk tall.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Trapped within a war.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Blind to what's in store,
Two hundred smiling orphans
Timid, weak and shy...
Two hundred smiling orphans
Each condemned to die.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Marching down the street,
Two hundred smiling orphans
In the Autumn heat.
Two hundred smiling orphans
In his wake like ducks,
Led by Janusz Korczak...
Author of their books.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Transported far away.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Facing their last day.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Taken for a stroll,
Along with Janusz Korczak...
Father of their soul.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Arrived at their new place.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Marching on apace.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Alighting from the train...
Would they and Janusz Korczak
Ever smile again?
Two hundred smiling orphans
New their dolour is told.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Their memoir to uphold.
Two hundred smiling orphans
Going on before.
For they, and Janusz Korczak,
Will smile for evermore.
ASJ
-
Author:
ASJ (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: September 8th, 2019 06:46
- Comment from author about the poem: On a visit to Yad Vashem, Jerusalem (an establishment dedicated to the Holocaust) I was moved by a sculpture (statue) of Janusz Korczak. I discovered that Janusz Korczak (1878-1942) was a Polish-Jewish author of children's books who's real name was Henryk Goldszmit. He was also director of an orphanage in Warsaw, Poland. He refused sanctuary offered to him by the nazis when the entire population of his establishment was sent to Treblinka extermination camp in 1942. Instead he elected to go to the gas chambers with his people. He dressed the children in their finest clothes, marched them to the railway station and personally escorted them to their annihilation. His contemporary, yiddish novelist Joshua Perle (1888-1943), witnessed the exodus and wrote: 'Janusz Korczak was marching, his head bent forward, holding the hand of a child, without a hat, a leather belt around his waist, and wearing high boots. A few nurses were followed by two hundred children, dressed in clean and meticulously cared for clothes, as they were being carried to the alter'. ~ If you note the year of Perle's own demise you will, of course, realise his fate. Would I have done the same in Janusz Korczak's place? .............. If you are prepared to honour me by allowing me a few moments of your time I will take you there ~ do please come with me.
- Category: Children
- Views: 111
- User favorite of this poem: Echo Seeker.
Offline)
To be able to comment and rate this poem, you must be registered. Register here or if you are already registered, login here.