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

SPRING IN BERLIN
by Vera Meisels

    I try to make myself
    an enchanted ring
    like a jeweler's filigree
    and attach tiny road signs
    as though in contrast
    to the pompous Brandenburg Gate
    or the rich Reichstag Building and the Museum
    that dwarfed me.

    Unable to summarize the great
    decisions in Villa Veneza
    take no comfort in the destruction
    of the Cathedral in the heart of Berlin,
    where pansies bloom
    in irritating symmetry.
    Even the wind won't move anything,
    stability presides all over the city;
    only the walls have come down
    and I don't know whether to go
    to Dachau or Sachsenhausen
    to find the ashes of my loved ones.

    If only I could rub the ring
    or Alladin's lamp
    I try to make myself
    an enchanted ring
    like a jeweler's filigree
    and attach tiny road signs
    as though in contrast
    to the pompous Brandenburg Gate
    or the rich Reichstag Building and the Museum
    that dwarfed me.

    Unable to summarize the great
    decisions in Villa Veneza
    take no comfort in the destruction
    of the Cathedral in the heart of Berlin,
    where pansies bloom
    in irritating symmetry.
    Even the wind won't move anything,
    stability presides all over the city;
    only the walls have come down
    and I don't know whether to go
    to Dachau or Sachsenhausen
    to find the ashes of my loved ones.

    If only I could rub the ring
    or Alladin's lamp
    and make a wish
    that it was all a dream.
    and make a wish
    that it was all a dream.