Halina Birenbaum
Sounds
of a
guilty
silence
I wanted
I
wanted to write orsimply to tell about the 27th block in Birkenau
about my upper bunk
today empty clean
I came
wanted to get up there
I gripped tight with my hands
like than with all the others
nobody was forbidding me now
nobody rushed me shouting
hitting
nobody cursed or bit my fingers
but the burden was impossible
legs did not carry
the topic crushed words
suppressed voice
crossed-out the present
only tears burning under the eyelids
wringing tears on my cheeks
sobs tearing my chest till it bursts
I outlasted here everything
whole my life
and death
can I finally weep it out
till the end?
October 10, 1994