The Last Survivor

Photo: Josh Appel

The worst attempt in history

To quench the holy fire

Where just a very lucky few

Slipped through the tight barbed wire

 

We raise up the survivors

Each a precious golden flame

The candles burn, and burn and burn

We treat them just the same

 

But as the clock ticks slowly on

A strange new era nears

One we gaze upon with worry

One the Jewish people fears

 

The last survivor sits at home

An old and frail Jew

At this time, not long in coming

She’ll give her soul up, too.

 

Not from famine, fever, fire, nor thirst

No gun, nor poison gas

But with wrinkled cheeks and smiling eyes

Does the moment come to pass.

 

Is this a cause for tragedy?

Is this a cause for weeping?

To stand there, stunned with disbelief

To tear our clothes in wailing grief

Bemoan their peaceful sleeping?

 

Hear me out: I do not try to claim

Their loss we will not mourn,

But now they’re free from all the burdens

They’ve unjustly bourn

 

Reunited with their families

Who wait for them on high

And perhaps receive an answer

To that burning question: Why…

 

No, it’s we who do not understand

We infants trapped down here,

So perhaps with love and gratitude

Should we shed a glistening tear.

 

Well that’s all well for them, you say

But us, what happens now?

Jew-hatred still runs deep and vile

And half the world is in denial

We must proceed, but how?

 

How can we hope to guard the flame

Ensure the memories thrive,

When all those who bore witness are

No longer left alive?

 

And how do we make sure our children

Keep our sacred vow

To pass down this infernal tale

To those who follow? How?

 

Relax, my friend, let slow your

Racing heart, and bear in mind

Survivors’ stories heard first-hand

Are not the only kind

 

Of testimony – you be sure

We’ve filmed and filed them

The papers, photos, documents

All saved in Yad Vashem.

 

An everlasting monument

So we should not forget

The vast and gaping hole, torn

From our nation’s heart. And yet

 

Are we becoming trapped within

This narrow paradigm?

Have we become fixated

On this single, dreadful time?

 

The Holocaust, the Holocaust

The mantra comes and goes

But it’s not the only time when Jews

Were faced down by our foes

 

The Maccabees, the Great Revolt,

The night-time on Masada

We say that we’re the victims

But inside we’re so much harder

 

Yes, our history’s an awesome one

Of steel, gold and bone

We cannot make it hang upon

The Holocaust alone

 

For if we pass the Shoah down

And nothing else down with it

The coming generation

Will not like that which we give it

 

And they’ll say: “Hey, that’s not something

I would want to carry on!”

Assimilation will commence, and our successors

Will be gone.

 

So forward we must turn our gaze

Not cease to look behind us

But realise we do not need

Survivors to remind us

 

The passing on of heritage

The laws, the joys, the pains

Lies encoded deep within ourselves

The blood in Jewish veins

 

It’s our secret to survival

Why the Jews outlast all others,

We receive our laws and customs

From our fathers and our mothers

 

And teach them to our children

In a long unbroken chain

Each link is forged in fire

Made to withstand any pain

 

But in this generation

It’s a practice we’re forsaking,

Replaced with Shoah education

And Israel as a celebration –

The ancient chain is breaking.

 

And that’s a cause for tragedy

Being caught up in the mission

Of Holocaust remembrance

And forgetting our tradition.

 

The Shoah will be remembered

Over that you need not fret

Even when the last survivor dies

We never will forget

 

But learn we must to let them go

Or from us they’ll be torn

The candles all burn lower now

And though it’s fine to mourn

 

The most important thing we face

‘Aint knowing what we’ve cried for,

But the piercing question that now slips

Between the last survivor’s lips:

 

“Are you living what we died for?”

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