This was where they all 
disembarked - 
the ones who would never 
board another train. 
This was where, 
the fathers and mothers 
who ran 
scared and unashamed 
before their children 
to board a train 
in stations far away,
arrived. 
This was where the children
too afraid to travel alone 
before their mother tearlessly
consoled them, 
‘You’ll be safe’ 
arrived. 
And this was the path 
they all walked - 
this dirt trail 
once devoid of hope. 

This was where they 
shed their last 
strand of dignity 
and stood naked, 
packed skin-to-skin 
hoping waiting praying
for the trickle from the showerhead. 
Before their doors were sealed 
and the guard yelled 
“Ivan, Wasser!” 
and the terrible engines 
roared to life. 

Standing on this 
quiet cold earth 
generations later - 
a tourist with a camera 
from a land that almost slept 
peacefully though it all - 
instead of singing like the birds 
I, 
I think 
I get it.