I think about my future constantly

I think about the man I am going to marry

I think about my career

I think about my home

I think about children

And I think about children innocence, and their hopes and aspirations

I think about their free spirit and curiosity

Today, as I stood in a forrest in the middle of Krakow,

I thought about these children

Yet they are no longer with us

No longer with innocence, and hopes, and aspirations

No longer free spirits, no longer curious

They were not allowed the chance to be or to do

And the trees stood silent, but the stories roared

And the shofar roared

And the mothers roared

All louder than the gunshots

We are louder than gunshots

We are louder than ghettos, and concentration camps, and selections

We are louder. We are resilient. We are forever.

We are Jewish.

– Taylor Freeman

UPENN

Today, I stood in a gas chamber

And I didn’t cry

I saw the ovens

And I didn’t cry

I stood aside graves

And I didn’t cry

We sung next to 7 tons of ashes

And I didn’t cry

I don’t know why I didn’t

I hear large numbers: 6 million Jews, 870,000 at Treblinka, 18,000 in one day at Majdanek

I think comprehension is impossible

When numbers are no longer statistics

But mothers gone, and children separated, and cousins shot dead, and neighbors gassed

And I don’t think I will ever understand

But I think later

I will weep

 

– Taylor Freeman

UPENN