Holocaust Memorial Day 2021

The cries of the innocent child,
Millions of people, brutally defiled.
A regime of terror, fear and hate,
Who was the Fuhrer to dictate
Who lived, who died, who would survive,
In a time when only few could thrive.

The wails of the terrified child,
Away from their mothers, thousands compiled.
Fear-stricken families torn apart,
At the behest of a beast who had no heart.
All of the Suffering, all of the Pain,
Corralled like cattle onto that train.

We come together every year,
January 27th, to shed a tear.
A time to remember, all those years ago,
Those that died, and those full of woe.
Our minds fill with sadness, whenever we think,
6 million people just gone in a blink.

Eighty-two years, look where we are,
That harrowing time, surely left a scar
On all those affected, so many we lost,
To the appalling events of the Holocaust.
A world so different, yet still the same,
Genocide and war, who’s really to blame.

We look back on that time, to remind and reflect
On what happens when evil goes unchecked,
Less and less of the story, we know,
A distant memory of a time long ago.
But what we don’t realise in our modern age,
Is that war and death continue backstage.

What a time we live in, full of freedom and love
For one another, a reality to be truly proud of.
An inspiring truth that once did not exist,
For those that didn’t that didn’t conform, Blacklist!
Shunned from society, rounded up and contained,
A fear of the different, that message ingrained.

To join the fight,
To stand up for what’s right,
To be the change,
To embrace the “strange”,
To remember those,
Who couldn’t oppose.

The darkness all around,
Felt as if no mercy could be found.
They held their breath in fear and fright,
As the one named death searched the night.

For years they lived in terror,
Dreading what seemed an inevitable horror.
Over six million friends and allies,
Stood together and lost their lives.

The noise from outside,
would just scream, “run and hide.”
no matter where they looked,
There was no hope in sight.

What they wanted was not out there.
But after hours of waiting,
It came to mind,
What they needed and what they had,
Was on the inside.

As the fright grew endless,
It became the only way to survive,
The only choice they had,
They had to believe;
That they could be, their own light,
In the darkness.