The tank stopped abruptly
And we sat open
mouthed
At what we beheld
Our brains could not
assimilate
What our eyes were
seeing
Great mounds of ….
What?
It can’t be that.
All the horrors of war
We had witnessed,
experienced
Since D-day
Did not prepare us
For what Belsen held
in store
A place devoid of God
A place where even
birdsong was banished
We dismounted and
approached on foot
As each step brought
us closer
Our worst fears were
realised
We saw that the mounds
were indeed bodies
Or something likened
to bodies
Then I saw an
androgynous figure
Stood at the fence
A dirty little bag of
bones
Wrapped in dirty rags
Bony fingers clutching
the wire
Like a birds feet
gripping a twig
I reasoned it was a girl
As the rags might well
have been a dress
“We are English” I
said
“Don’t be afraid”
Her fleshless face was
beyond gaunt,
Her shaved head little
more than a skull
Her huge eyes were so
black and deep
I could see into her
soul
A weak smile played round
her mouth
And tears welled up in
her huge eyes
I would not have
believed it possible
For her desiccated
form
To have held enough
moisture for tears
But they were there
And they ran down the
grubby cheeks
Of the little bag of
bones
And dripped onto her
ragged dress
We ran to the gates
And forced them open
Then we stepped into
the jaws of hell
More skeletal figures
appeared
From amidst the piles
of rotting corpses
Bemused and
disbelieving
They hugged us, and
thanked us
Some cried, some
laughed
We gave them water
And fed them our
rations
Not realising we were
finishing
What the Germans had
started
The food was too rich
For their weak
emaciated bodies
What we didn’t realise
Was we were killing
them with kindness
The girls name was
Elise
She was the same age
as me
But she died the next
day
Her face with the huge
tear filled eyes
Haunted my dreams
All of the days of my
life
Penetrating my soul
And breaking my heart
My only consolation
Was that she at least
knew kindness
Once more before she
died
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