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prisoner

SHOAH

…and, with the film-maker, he returns
to where he sang, as a boy, in a boat;
a prisoner, an orphan, a Jew dumping sacks of crushed bone in the river;
keeping the Germans entertained with the
Prussian marching songs they had taught him –
and the Poles so charmed that, now he has returned
in middle age, they reminisce fulsomely:
bemused, he turns to camera in such pain…

 

 

 

IN MEMORIAM: MISS J.H.

She was nearly deaf apparently and nearly blind

and ‘mentally deficient’ since infancy –

but could see an old friend to wave

and sound a greeting.

 

She was definitely Thurberesque

with her wall-eyed look and stolid gait.

 

She felt pain and wept.

 

O prisoner, love alone could not release you!