Dogs of War

         The Dogs of War

The dogs of war were starting to gather,
         yapping at the heels of peace,
Working themselves into a lather,
         and soon all reason would cease.
Driven along by a madman,
         they answered his beck and call.
Soon they would cover the land,
         with the stench of their death pall.

Into the ghettos came his henchmen,
         scurrying like rats o’er the land,
Into the squalor and the din,
         they ravaged Jacob’s clan.
The terror brought fear and shame,
         trembling I sought a safe place,
And amid the carnage and flames,
         I forgot my love, my Grace.

I was safe and secure in the dark,
         frightened I heard the cruel blows,
And for the mighty deutsche mark,
         my love was murdered at Chelmno.
My cowardice has left me scarred,
         I failed when she needed me most,
And my conscience has made me hard,
         for I’m a man pursued by a ghost.

Then on a winter’s day in Poland,
         near a field I was walking across,
The ghost I was trying to outrun,
         had caught me and I knew I had lost.
A fence enclosing some gravestones,
         seemed to beckon and I turned aside.
An old woman there all alone,
         waved and pushed the gate open wide.

I wondered why she bade me come,
         she seemed to know why I was there,
And she directed me with her thumb,
         to a spot that seemed so bare.
In the place was a grave with a name,
         a small stone filled the tiny space,
As I read a fear gripped my frame,
         for the single word I saw was Grace!

The old woman came to my place,
         said, I’ve a word from your bride,
A tear she wiped from her face,
         I was there the day she died.
I rescued her and buried her here,
         from the horror of a mass grave,
And though you will always fear,
         because of her love she forgave.

I left that day different somehow,
         though my guilt I can never erase,
In death she forgave my broken vow,
         and is forever my love, my Grace.