Two Shall Become One Poetry Contest

Dreams have I, though locked inside,
No one sees them, I have my pride.
They’re all mine, my innermost thoughts.
I hide them behind my quick retorts.
I change, rearrange, color them bright,
While I lie in my bed, alone at night.

My bed is mine, only one owner,
That’s fine. My choice. I am a loner,
At least, that’s the way I have had to be,
Locked alone, friendless, and solitary,
I keep my past safe from probing eyes,
I cover my arm; my scar, perfect my lies.

By night my dreams come out one at a time,
Remember back then to a time sublime,
When the sun in my world smiled every day,
Before they came, stole my life away.
I dream of how it would be if we’d stayed,
Before they came, and smiled, and betrayed.

They laughed, and lied, befriended, pretended,
Then knocked us down when we defended,
The right to be who we are, who we choose,
They called us names, they called us Jews,
With numbers on our arms they maimed us.
And that’s why I hide, they changed us.

But in my dreams, they live, my brother,
I play with my sister, sing with my mother,
We reminisce, and my memories are sweet.
At night, with my family, I am complete.
But when I wake, it’s just me left – me only
And that’s when I realize dreams are lonely.