Mommy, do Jews Have Souls?
Tucked into bed; dreary, drowsy head...
Against the softest quilts spread, not a single lousy thread
Whispered prayers on lips, the same repeated scripts...
No eclipse of tradition, they always end with mother’s lips.
A kiss on the cheek, from her nurturing face, so sweet...
But instead of “Goodnight”, mother’s greeted with a peep.
“I’m sorry to ask you...but, if Heaven’s the goal...
Mommy, can you tell me...do Jews have souls?
I know Daddy’s job is to round up every one...
Come at them like a mob; pointing, firing guns.
But I also see their kids, some no older than me...
Dragging feet, leaving skids; pried away from family.
I see tears in their eyes; see their mother’s cry...
As headlocks are applied, box cars get supplied.
Daddy says they’re evil, a sick and rancid people...
And Hitler says it legal, The Reich's keeping our race regal.
But they cry just like I do, need their mommies too...
In the snow subdued, they’re no different than me and you.”
“Please, darling, sleep...for the Jews you shouldn’t weep...
They come from stock so cheap, they’re a burden cuz they’re weak.
Plus they pass disease every time they have to sneeze...
Every one must be seized, and your father has expertise.
So, no...since you must know...Jews, they have no souls...
I’m sure they’re sent from Satan and are trying to take control.
Your Daddy’s so heroic, always stoic in his duty...
And from now on, you’ll know it; he’s protecting Anglo beauty.”
Another kiss, hands through hair...then she’s gone and down the stairs...
Leaving her son to rise, look out the window below to the square.
4 stories down is Daddy, MP-40 out and handy...
Herding hundreds of Jews through while officers sip on brandy.
As he snacks on snuck-in candy, he spies Daddy and others react...
With unloaded rounds towards the ground at something small and compact.
Shrill screams follow, female and male alike...
As rock candy’s suddenly swallowed, and lodges in his windpipe.
A guttural gasp, tiny eyes frightened and wide, veins pop in his face...
Life’s lost...and past, he drifts outside; then feels a warm embrace.
“I’m scared and alone...just like you are...
No going back home, instead we’ll journey towards stars.
But Mommy prepared me, not to be scared, see...
Said we’d soon be going to Heaven and feel God’s charity.
Warned this day would come, at the hands of men with guns...
But she promised God would love me as brightly as the sun.
And I see you’re loved as well, we’re both rising to the light...
Leaving this earthly Hell, arriving in His kingdom tonight.”
“What’ll happen to Mommy and Daddy? If they’re both wrong...
Will I ever see them again, with their beliefs so strong?”
“I can’t answer that with truth, I’m just a little kid like you...
But we can share my parents, they’ll be joining us real soon.”
.
.
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