Reflections and Revisions

I thought I would share with you some of the poems that were written by fellow participants of MRH 2011 during our debriefing sessions following each Camp visit.

This trip sparked much creativity and I look forward to seeing what we all do with that in the future.

Poem by Devin Heroux, Saskatoon:

Just when there were no more tears, there were tears.

Just when there was belief, there was disbelief.

And just when all the fear was gone, the fear was everywhere.

Just when the suffering had stopped, they suffered.

When it was dark, it got darker.

And when it finally got to be it's darkest, there was a flicker; a light.

And just when it seemed hopeless, there was hope.

Finally, just when all the faith was lost, there was God.

Poem by Jeremy Finkelstein, Montreal:
The tracks of venom role into their lives,
So serene into the Auschwitz hive,
I can't comprehend this route of death,
How could Canada not look right or left,
The Holocaust hurt my family and haunted the world,
The train is still moving my emotions word by word.


Poem by Allison Miceli, Burlington:
I walked, we marched.
To places that are laid with the ashes of those who were
victims to this. Speechless.

Words are difficult to find as stones
beneath our feet shift in the Earth, the same
Earth where they once stood too. Same place
different time, different reason. Space.

All affected in a different way, yet similarities
emerge in thoughts and feelings. At the same time
silence and tears were all that came. Thoughts.

In a place so large at times felt so small. An ear to
hear breaks, a hand to touch a worn beam,
a sound of walking in the wind. Surreal.

A circle representing friendship, support, love,
and hope emerged in this place. Stories were told,
music present, homage aid, a promise made. A stone laid.

The truth still runs, brakes still squeal, cargo is
still unloaded, but not for the same reason and
never again it will. Hope.