Father Mercy

When they took away my mother and father, a great fear consumed me. I

knew what was going to happen to them. We all knew it was a gas chamber and they were killing us like cattle.

The life in the eyes of the soldiers was dark and animalistic.

Darkness like nothing I have ever known was inside those eyes.

There was nothing human about them. They did as they were commanded and did not think for themselves.

The souls of my mother and father escaped through the smoke stacks of the shower house.

I watched them go from the court yard and could hear my father’s voice in the smoke.

We all wanted to bathe and felt filthy from the stench of illness and cough.

My mother, the beautiful gypsy woman, knew it wasn’t a shower being offered to those being led astry.

She held me close the night before they took her.

I will never forget her warmth and love.