Constellation Of Innocence Poem by Sheena Blackhall

Some found billets in abandoned houses
Some broke furniture to feed a fire
Horses, stabled in the freezing blizzard
Perished, were stolen, or slain to fill the pot

Germans sniped and harried from the fringes
Shot and shell made travel a screaming hell
Famished, the fugitives faced the scourging gales of the North
Like flagellants, enduring whips of ice
And then, the ghetto, place of last abode

Footpaths were slippery, walking on them a penance
Food grew shorter, neighbours' corpses plundered
Sick, wounded, famished, weaponless, worn out
Even the children wore the yellow star
The constellation of innocence

When Mendel looked down on his brother
Frozen to death in the street beneath the stars
‘I would have sold my boots at the railway station,
To lie there in your place, ' he said

The moon in its mighty mansion in the sky
Glittered, the heavens seeded by Death's disciples