you have taught me of open arms…
When reason is eclipsed by hate,
and reluctance to speak truth pervades,
where furtive whispers breathed behind shuttered doors,
and subtle pointing on crowded streets precede denunciation,
deportation, death
I will remember winding cattle trains
ferrying you through frozen nights, needlelike hunger
your companion,
the teeming ghettos, withered feet in tattered shoes
shuffling endlessly on gritty sidewalks,
the fortified showers with steel trap doors and poisoned air,
behind flower-draped wooden and barbed wire fences,
I will gaze upon photographs stolen through dirty windows,
charcoal sketches scratched out in dark corners,
and paintings crafted in secret,
I will read manuscripts buried in fields for safekeeping,
under floorboards, and in cupboards,
beside wispy sheets of music,
and diaries chronicling crimes,
each damning piece a mosaic of evidence,
an eternal voice louder than any human could utter,
I will remember you showed me the beautiful kaleidoscope
that is humanity, where color of skin is no longer a weapon,
And faith restores what religion has torn down,
Because of what you have shown me,
I will not forget, and I shall never again remain silent
when hatred eclipses reason,
I will speak out in the face of tyranny,
When fear builds walls and lies become truth,
I will open my arms, my hands, my voice
Because of what you have shown me.