Salvation

The stars were too far, the barbed wire
     too threatening.
A swastika chained her dreams
     behind her back.
Her once clear-cut goals were now
      only rough-edged glass
which shattered, in synch with her heart,
      teeming with hate and longing for love.
Daily soup rations told a story of freedom,
but registered only the image of death.
Her soul drifted away to the sea,
      free rolling, escaping under the cool night
      awning of stars.
To reach a star was a journey
      to another world, another life ...

Her hopes were burned to ashes
      by the hand of the accuser, his face
      a blank window pane under a leaden helmet
Her soul fled away - to the stars
And she reached her salvation.

by S. P., Weston, MA