Thursday, June 15, 2023

Anne Frank

I just saw this post.  Anne Frank's birthday was June 12th.  Her life has been documented on a new series called A Silent Light being shown on National Geographic TV.  I haven't seen it, but it gets great reviews and I will watch it.  

Today I should have been ninety four, 
I would be having a party with cake
I’d have two fine sons and a daughter too
Grandchildren to cuddle and stay.
I’d have met a great man, dashing and tall
He’d have worked in an office in town
We’d have lived in the country, two dogs and a cat
I’d have had a fine wedding gown. 
Margot would have lived nearby, 
Surely a mother herself?
My mother and father would have been so proud
We’d have raised a glass to good health.
Instead we slept on wooden slats 
As we shivered with hunger and cold
We were beaten for any discriminatory thing
We were given no toys to hold. 
My mother was starving, she gave us her food
Scabies was rife in our camp
I wanted to die, this wasn’t life
Living with rats in the damp. 
My best friend was in the camp next door
I missed her riotous laugh
I was glad to have my sister with me
Loneliness, was my first and my last.
I dreamed of food that I could eat
I wished for potatoes and meat
If I survived, I’d wash it all down
With wine and something sweet.
Typhus arrived and we both got sick
 Doctors were never called in
We died one by one, Margot went first 
Death was an easier win.
I hope I didn’t die in vain 
I hope the world has learned
Hatred has no place in life 
My diary forever preserved. 

In honour of Anne Frank 12.06.1929 - 1945

Anne died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in February or March 1945.  It was liberated by British and Canadian soldiers on April 15, 1945.  My cousin Dale told me her dad was one of the soldiers who helped liberate the camp.  The horrors of what he saw haunted him his entire life!

I hope the horrors of what happened in Europe are never forgotten!

Merry Shipmass

 From our house to yours, Merry Christmas!