Spoils of War

In Lithuania
Pillaging YIVO
For artifacts
Of a lost race

Plus jamais
Nicht Einmal
Never again

Words spoken late
Sincere this time?
Might makes right
They were evil

Der Sieger wird immer der Richter
und der Besiegte stets der Angeklagte sein
The victor will always be the judge,
and the vanquished the accused

Beaded moccasins
Beautifully displayed
Cleansed of context
The rancor of the ghosts
Of their former owners

Hobnail shoes
Piled like potatoes
Harvest of Horror
Black and white photos
Each pair was a person

We can't understand
But we can try
La seule pechée
C'est de s'en foutre
The only sin
Is not to care

If they had won
The shoes, clean
Neatly arranged
Hebrew letters behind
Toras, shawls,
Yarmulke, terfillin

How these people lived
Now they are ghosts
It had nothing to do with us

(4/19)  NaPoWriMo