a child's war

A child's war

suddenly, there was a war
people drew the curtains called " blinds"
the boy had no idea what was going on
only there was a fear in the air
the next thing he knew, he sat in a basement
as fingers of light clawed  the night
A long bus ride out of town, his mother
was not with him, he didn't ask why.
A big farmhouse near a German camp
The soldiers loved him and let him sit on
 their big horses
Then it was all over, not knowing why
back with his mother, who was busy walking
in a factory, most of the time, he walked
alone and witnessed the men he knew dragged
women out of their houses to the police
station and had their hair shorn, they
were raped by angry men
Raped, not what he knew what the meant.
Nein, he said, those people are not nice
like my friends, the soldiers.
what one's experience as a child
 is not forgotten
it pained me to see Germany suffering
from self-imposed guilt after the war
not speaking up when Israel behaved in a way
that even tops the Nazi's atrocities 
 Europe needs Germany, an industrial
and cultural nation finding her place again