Kaddish

I wrote this at school today...  after all, a sub needs something to do during prep hour.

Yisgadal, veyiskadash, shmey raba...
Under my breath, I mumbled the words
Mumbled and stumbled forward in my rank of five
Black skulls looking down at me
From barbed waire perches, proclaiming: "Death!"

The sun was shining, but spring was hidden
By clouds of gray snow from the chimneys:
The ash froze my heart in the knowing
This might be my sister, my brother
That now fluttered round my head

I marched on, under the German lie:
Arbeit Macht Frei-- Work Makes You Free
With every step, the words tumbled out:
Yisgadal, veyiskadash... the Prayer for the Dead
I did not see the irony:
I was praying it for myself.