Brief Lives

by Thomas Ország-Land (December 2014)

1.

A Pledge in the Ghetto

 

A grieving 5-year old promised her rabbit:

I won’t leave you.

 

 

?2

 

               In memoriam

               György Timár

 

Crazed by the stench of death,

my Brother clenched and raised

his emaciated fist:

For Your own sake, my Lord,

?

 

3

No Hiding

 

There’s no hiding behind

the royal shilling,

the chain of command,

the endless drill:

that does the killing,

no matter who issues

the call to kill.

 

________________________________________________

 

Thomas Ország-Land (b. 1938) is a poet and award-winning foreign correspondent who writes from London and his native Budapest. His poetry appears in current, forthcoming or very recent issues of Acumen, Ambit, The Hungarian Quarterly, The Jewish Quarterly, The London Magazine and Stand.

 

 

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