Partisans hid in the countryside
fighting against the Germans.
Iser wanted to join them.
Mama would hear none of it.
You are just a boy,
she said, cradling his face in her shaking hands.
But, Mama!
Iser’s voice cracked
his face flushed.
We must stay together,
Tata decided.
We must do as we are told.
We have done nothing wrong.
We have nothing to fear.
The Germans are not monsters.
I could not imagine Iser
a partisan,
fighting
in the woods
against the Germans.
He was just a boy,
my little brother,
even if he had grown taller
in the year since his bar mitzvah.
a partisan,
fighting
in the woods
against the Germans.
I was just a girl
yet I wanted to go.
Wanted to fight,
do something other than
what I was told.
Little Lázaro played happily
oblivious
on the floor with his train.
Smiling when the wheels spun
round so fast they hummed.
Necha’s head bowed over a book
oblivious also,
though she was old enough
to know better,
her feet tucked under her
to keep them warm.
Iser argued.
But, Tata,
I argued.
Tata cut us both off with
a stern look.
Enough, Iser.
Zlatka, mind yourself,
Tata’s voice harder than I had ever heard.
No more discussion.
I knew
even if he disagreed with Tata
Iser would do as he was told.
I wondered,
If I were a boy,
would I?