Imagine yourself

wearing a yellow star everyday

being labeled a Jew

taking humiliation due to your religion,

sexuality, birth defects, or chosen lifestyle

being treated like an animal

forced out of your home by the military, at gun point

put into a ghetto

forced out of the ghetto

shoved into a small train with hundreds of others

standing on the train for days as others died around you

for finally arriving at hell,

known to others as Auschwitz

being separated

women.

children.

men.

and elders.

your slow painful death begins

you are obligated to work at a labor camp

setting roads for the devil to travel upon

or shoveling up ashes

shoveling up hopes and dreams

of all other prisoners before you.

you are starved

only eating a small portion

of soup and bread a day

seeing family members killed daily

or never seeing them again

facing death in the eye daily

until it finally comes for you

you see the SS officer walk towards you pointing his gun

you know it is finally your time

you close your eyes as he pulls the trigger

as the bullet travels in mid air you think ‘finally”

the bullet pierces your skull, and for you hell as ended

you see God with his arms extend towards you

and all he says is

“I am sorry for what my sons have done to you forgive them”