Ernst Neuschul : Messiah 1919, by Miriam Gampel

Messiah, by Ernst Neuschul (Germany), 1919.

Ernst Neuschul : Messiah 1919

The war is over
I am one who lived to tell
Trapped in time
In the continuity of tradition
To have felt the finality of no more
On our collective skeletal flesh
Back to the beginning
We are resigned
But with the imprint in our sleeping and our waking
I jump up aware in the darkness
Gasping for air
Of an evil imp on my chest
I am mad with guilt and memories
I was so afraid to be afraid
My eyes are wild
I come from nothing
And go back to nowhere
I have been stripped of my pride
All has changed in one dark long night
I wrap my ragged uniform around me
Put my feet on the path
The sun’s rays illuminate the day
And my way
The iron mountains rise in the distance
I am one man
Survivor of all that
Now I can only trudge onward and endure

Miriam Gampel

​Miriam Gampel writes from Toronto, Ontario.