Poems

Looking for ideas on what poems inspired me  I came across a book poems about Auschwitz that are written by Paul A. Ablett.
 

Spare a Thought

What was it like, we cannot know

we were not there, perhaps we should go

To look at the camp, the buildings and ground

To feel the spirits as they hover around.

We take life for granted in our own little world

We are kept warm, taken in from the cold

When it starts to rain and the weather is drab

We put up our brolly or call a cab

Home in the evening to houses or flats

Wiping our shoes on the carpets or mats

Relaxing at ease with a glass of wine

Thinking about only where we should dine

Pick up the paper for our daily read

Front page comments on a dastardly deed

Turn to the back check out the sport

The serious stuff gets just a quick thought

With our family around us  we sit and chatter

Other folks problems don't seem to matter

Sit back in the comfort to watch the telly

With plenty of food in our well fed belly

At night we sleep in our comfortable bed

A soft pillow is there to support our head

And as we wake up in the morning

Another pleasant day is dawning

Breakfast is there upon the table

Would you like more? I don't think I'm able

Talk turns to holidays in the sun

Our life is good, its so much fun

But what about those who went before

Their last recollection was a closing door

As they crowded into the chamber en-mass

To be put to death with Zyklon gas

Perhaps its time to spare them a thought

The history needs to be learnt and taught

Don't ignore it or bury your head

Respect and honor the Auschwitz dead.

The Visit

As I sit here on the plane

That takes me through the driving rain

My thoughts drift to what I'll see

And what effect it will have on me

I hope the memory never fades

Even though its been decades

Since freedom came to those in wait

As they clamored at the Auschwitz gate

Some call this place a museum

When really its a murder scene

We should respect its as a shrine

To the horrific extent of the Nazi crime

Inside the cinema its eleven o'clock

This use to be the adim block

The silence is deafening as we sit and wait

For the Holocaust that shows their fate

We set off on the guided tour

Not knowing whats behind each door

We cant keep up, she's going too fast

Can it ever sink in, this evil past?

We see the photos on the wall

That tells the story of it all

Or was it worse, do we really know

The truth behind the torturous woe

We see the bundles of plaits and hair

Cut from people without any care

Dark hair, blond hair from a beautiful head

That lay that night upon a rat infested bed

They told them they were bound for a better place

Their suitcases packed with clothes and lace

Now empty save for their family name

This was nothing but a shameful game

The cells that held the so near to death

Make you gasp and catch your breath

Torture and punishment blocks so grim

Filled with innocents upon a Nazi whim

The wall of death where so many perished

Adorned with symbols for loved ones cherished

The gallows and the torture hooks

Built not by soldiers, but by crooks

The Auschwitz gas chamber, still intact

That witnessed that barbaric act

To help achieve one madman's goal

The walls still warm from all those souls

Can it get worse, where to now?

The Auschwitz camp at Birkenau

The railway tracks are still in place

That brought over a million of that race

Old men, infirm men, women too

And not forgetting the children who,

Were not allowed to stand and linger

|Their fate sealed by the wave of a finger

The gas chambers that beckoned them as showers

Were filled and emptied for so many hours

Sometimes up to twenty thousand a day

stripped off and perished in that way

The inhumanity, experiments and disease

Caused by those monsters with such ease

Should be forever of monumental concern

But still happens today, will we ever learn?

Ghosts

They are still there, they're all around

In the building and on the ground

Tormented souls that will never leave

I hope they know we mourn and grieve

Although it's warm I stand and shiver

My sadness is all that I can deliver

I feel I'm trespassing on their space

As i walk around this horrific place

I enter the chamber where they died

Others stand near me side by side

Nobody speaks as we look at the floor

We are not alone, there are thousands more

At the wall of death I stand and turn

To look around me with concern

Thinking of many that came in the past

Knowing the sights I see, were to be their last

The torture blocks are an utter disgrace

I'm sure as I look I can see a face

With sunken cheeks and pleading eyes

This is a place you can only despise

The cell where they starved them all of bread

Has scratches on the walls by those who are dead

Although I know that they died in despair

Their marks let me know that they are still here. 

At Birkenau I climb the stairs of the tower

My thoughts and feelings are totally dour

As I look down to the railway track

I see over a million staring back

I look at the road and chimneys as well

This place was worse than we imagine Hell

The screams and tears, the looks from the dead

Their ghosts are here, not in my head

After Reading these poems it inspired me to want to go and visit Auschwitz to see if I could produce some Stereoscopic images. I think combining one of these poems with a medium that can be seen as a bit gimmicky will make the viewer think about what it is they are looking at.