Łomża Prison

I was sent to

The prison in Łomża,

Held with other Jewish girls

Rounded up from areas

Supposedly Judenfrei.

Seven of us

Jammed in a cell

Big enough for one.

A girl with blond braids

And a gold cross

Got down on her knees,

Crossed herself,

And swore to God

She was not a Jew.

No one listened

Not even God.

Days spent in

A cramped cell,

No room to lie down,

No information,

No food.

Worries for my family

Chewed at my heart,

Mice in the corners

Of the cell.

I heard rumors.

Białystok ghetto

Was liquidated,

Emptied,

Destroyed,

Burned.

Most had done as they were told,

Climbed onto trains.

Others had fought.

Mama,

Papa,

Mushke

Would not have fought.

Leybl?

What would my brother have done?

I prayed

He’d climbed on a train.

The rumors claimed

No one survived

The uprising.