"EXCEPT THE ASHES"

Tattered clothes, just a size too big or small
Families torn apart and into the pits, they fall
Concentration camps packed to the max
Paying with their lives is the tax

Large families reduced to just one
The mind going numb as thoughts come undone
Wondering and asking, “Why me?”
Begging…praying…“Let me be!”

Forced to work on jobs too hard
Living their lives in a cage that is barred
The frail bodies, always falling down
The SS constantly patrolling around

Wanting such a normal life, but it’s reduced to this
Desiring the family that they’re forced to miss
Desiring their life with many friends
Wishing that this horror would end

Struggling behind orders that should’ve never been spoken
The SS beating down on the lost and the broken
Wandering around aimlessly, no longer able to cry
Hoping and praying, and always asking “Why?”

Praying for the day when freedom would reign
A chance for a new life without the pain
Hoping for a day when they can finally cry
Wishing for a day when they can no longer ask “Why?”

Knowing somewhere, somehow, there’s a way
They still have a voice, even if they have nothing to say
Silenced by the terror of all that they have seen
Wishing that this living Hell was only just a dream

Walking there now, the silence, it screams
Hiding in the shadows are the things left unseen
Go into the museum and look past the glasses
Everything that remained, Except The Ashes