Poetry
MY MUSELMAN STATUE | FIREFLY | THE WALLS OF TEREZIN | TEDDY BEAR UNDER AN EIDERDOWN | RETURN TO THERESIENSTADT | SPRING IN BERLIN  | PRESENTATION | AN UNOPENED LETTER

FIREFLY
by Vera Meisels

    To Naava Shan, Theatre Director in Terezin

    The trees no longer give shade
    against the scorching sun,
    looking somehow thin, their leaves
    have fallen into windswept piles.

    The firefly pushes through the leaves,
    often covered completely, its glow
    hidden near extinction.
    It seems that even if someone cared,
    they couldn't get it out unharmed.

    And I remember being broucek - Little Firefly-
    in the play based on Jan Karafiat's book.

    On the Terezin ghetto stage, I danced
    before packed hall and the terrifying officers
    in the front row and dreading the end because
    of the skull on their caps.

    Afterwards I learned they just wanted to prove
    that culture distracts the mind from hunger.