To The Memory
Of My Mother
Martyred by the Germans
In the Nazi Death Camp
Of Belzec
On October 28, 1942

In my dream, Mother, I see you
standing near a gas chamber.
The SS men order you
to strip naked.
You seem to obey
     and suddenly you pull out
     hair pins out of your hair,
run to the nearest SS man
     and gouge his eyes.
And it takes some time
     before the stunned SS men
realize what has happened and so
you laugh contentedly
before their bullets hit you.
Thus, at least in my dream,
my dearest Mother,
you refused to obey slavishly
and elected to die as a heroine.