Unbroken

There was a broken railroad track                                                 
Rusted over and almost black
That snaked across the frosty ground
Behind our camp’s deathly mound

The vindictive demons brought me in
A new addition to their collective sin
I did not know what horrors awaited
Through the skeletal veil they had created

They thrust at me moldy bread
Dehumanizingly shaved my head
Stripped me of my meager possessions
Using the power of their oppression

I was shoved into the defeated line
In which of hope there was no sign
But I stood up tall and arched my back
I could bring the hope that they all lack

I toiled all day without a pause
They say escape is a defeated cause
My back protested and threatened to break
But my resolve did not shake

At night, they crowded us all around
Half-decayed bodies, a starved mound
All around me was a rancid smell
But my hope was still alive and well

They hauled bodies to the dreaded chambers
Of acids, gas, and deadly dangers
I slaved all day in that horrid jail
But my spirit was not for sale

Winter came and blizzards stormed
Some inmates’ bodies were not warmed
I was frail and weak; my figure shrunk
But my spirit ship had not sunk

My teeth were chipped, and beyond rotten
In the masses my name forgotten
The abominable demons committed atrocities
Of unexplainable shapes and velocities

Death and torture howled and moaned
And at night darkness groaned
The was no glimmer of light in sight
But I had hope; I would still fight

There was a broken railroad track
Rusted over and almost black
That snaked across the frosty ground
Behind our camp’s deathly mound

But as long as I had hope
As long as I could cope
I would step over the fragmented track
And forever stay unbroken