The Ghosts of Europe, by Michal Mahgerefteh

Jewish Cemetery, Krakow, Poland, Zygmunt Put Zetpe0202 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)]

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The Ghosts of  Europe
                Jewish Cemetery in Poland

I alone wander this rural mountain,
sharpened gravestones like teeth in 
the cruelly exposed mouth of winter--

my shoulders stiffen, eyes tire from 
unblinking vigilance. I dart the moon’s 
silhouette above icy branches starved 

for the luminescence of sun-snowy day. 
Shadows of the fallen fists swiftly charge 
the air with the unspeakable denial of six 

million dead whose chorus, unbound 
by time, will never cease until the dirge 
                enfolds the world.

Michal Mahgerefteh

Editor's note: The image shown is not the original inspiration for this poem. You can see the photograph here.
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Michal Mahgerefteh is a poet and artist from Israel, living in Virginia since 1986. She is the author of four poetry collections, the managing editor of Anna Davidson Rosenberg Poetry Award, the managing editor of Poetica Magazine and Publishing, and the publisher of Mizmor Poetry Anthology. Michal's fifth collection, MoonFish, is forthcoming in late 2019.