Charlotte Cohen, Ros Posel, Israel Silberhaft
Confidences
I had to confide in someone
So I confided in paper
Paper is silent
It can take anything
I could pour out my anger
I could weep …
I could rejoice …
For me, poems are what
Friends are to other people
They are what I cannot tell anyone
I wrote them so that they could
Only be understood
By someone with similar experiences
Someone who was somewhat like me
Charlotte Cohen
Poem 1
there I sit,
fair hair
cheerfully curled,
dolls close by.
another snap,
a gap-toothed smile,
the first day of school.
forgotten moments.
my young life
has disappeared,
leaving the smile
of a Cheshire cat
in wonderland.
Ros Posel
The City of Stone
Jerusalem the city of stone
For generations deserted and left alone
In the past she was a glorious beauty
And a pilgrimage to her was a sacred duty
Now she is a fading flower
And what is left is the Western Wall and David’s Tower
In her narrow winding streets
Weeping angels one meets
Where has her beauty gone?
What is left is a city of stone
Because she was trampled raped and defiled
By godless and brutal enemies running wild
Now she has been partly restored
By the grace of our eternal Lord
Why she has suffered such a brutalized history
Will remain an unsolved mystery
Israel Silberhaft
