It's been a tough week of weeping, praying, fasting, and worrying about people we know who were trying to get transportation home from Israel, and spending too many hours glued to our radios and televisions, listening for the latest news updates.
The first draft of today's poem, "I Read Anne's Diary" was written, Thursday afternoon, during a Zoom poetry workshop led by Maria Mazziotti Gillan. Here's the finished product, following a few revisions and tweaks...
"The Diary of a Young Girl"
I READ ANNE’S DIARY
Terrorist attack on
Israel, October 7, 2023
I
was a teenager
when
I read Anne Frank’s diary
for
the first time
and
clearly recall the young Jewish girl
(who
was hiding in an attic
with
her family, during the Holocaust)
writing
that she believed
people
were basically good at heart—
Eventually
her family was captured by the Nazis
Anne
was sent to Auschwitz, then Bergen-Belsen
where
she died during the typhus epidemic
That
was many, many years ago
but
her words are still with me—
especially
this week
when
after planning their moves
for
two years, Hamas
launched
a brutal terrorist attack
on
the Israel I love
They
took hostages, bombed, murdered—
not
just murdered, slaughtered
in
the most horrifying ways imaginable
men,
women, children, babies
so
I think of Anne again and Israelis
think
of evil that is in the world
I
weep and fast and pray
and
worry about people I know
who
are in Israel trying to get home
Bombing
on both sides will get worse
Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
says
no Hamas member
will
be left alive
I
believe God is in control—
I
wish I could believe
people
are basically good at heart
Maude
Carolan Pych
by Maude Carolan Pych
is available online
at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CBD, etc.
www.maudecarolanpych.net
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