Reasons *
By Randy Frasier
They take me from my family.
They say I cannot go back.
They leave me nothing, but the clothes on my back.
Tell me the reasons.
They cram me into this, this small box on a train with many others that know my pain.
It seems we travel endlessly with no aim.
Tell me the reasons.
To a camp, I finally arrive.
A prison it looks like more than ever. I strive for the reason
That I was swept away and why I stand here in this terrifying place today.
Tell me the reasons.
I look around at this terrifying place and I see a man’s face all hope gone,
Gone away from this place.
Tell me the reasons.
In the sky I see a high stack with black smoke oozing a bad smell
And I hear screams of pain and there are looks of the same.
Tell me the reasons.
Finally, I asked a uniformed man, “Why?
Why have you taken me here under this black sky?
Tell me the reasons.”
He says to me with a stale look in his eyes, “I have brought you here to die.”
“Why?”I ask. “Why have you brought me to die?
Tell me the reasons.”
“Your hair is not yellow. Your eyes are not blue. You must die, because you are a Jew.
These are the reasons.”
“So, you say to me, because of the hair on my head and the color in my eye that I should Die?
Those are not reasons, not reasons to take me away, not reasons to make me pay.
There are no reasons.
There are no reasons for you to look at me with a stale eye.
There are no reasons for you to blacken this sky.
There are no reasons.
There are no reasons why you should not die just as I.
We are people just the same. The only difference is our aim.
There are no reasons.”
With anger in his eyes, he pushes me towards the door. “Go,” he says, “take your sight
From my eyes. Go! Go join your people in the black skies.
Forget your reason. I care nothing of your pain. We are not the same.
I have no reasons.”
I look back from the door of fire and wish unto him shame, shame for all of this pain.
Pain for which he has giving me.
No reasons.
As I stare in the face of my end, the reasons come to me.
I know the reasons.
Hate is the reason, the reason for the end of my days. The reason that they say I must
Pay. The reason I cannot stay. Your hate has decided my fate.
I know the reasons.
Ignorance is the reason. You do not know me. You have never seen my face and, yet,
You let the blind hate of others guide you to bring me to this place.
I know the reasons.
One day they will see what you have done here today
Even if it is many seasons from this day of pain. They will see
The reasons.
I beseech you to see these reasons and prevent these days of suffering and pain
that are Never ending to those who have weathered this ominous storm.
“The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
They say I cannot go back.
They leave me nothing, but the clothes on my back.
Tell me the reasons.
They cram me into this, this small box on a train with many others that know my pain.
It seems we travel endlessly with no aim.
Tell me the reasons.
To a camp, I finally arrive.
A prison it looks like more than ever. I strive for the reason
That I was swept away and why I stand here in this terrifying place today.
Tell me the reasons.
I look around at this terrifying place and I see a man’s face all hope gone,
Gone away from this place.
Tell me the reasons.
In the sky I see a high stack with black smoke oozing a bad smell
And I hear screams of pain and there are looks of the same.
Tell me the reasons.
Finally, I asked a uniformed man, “Why?
Why have you taken me here under this black sky?
Tell me the reasons.”
He says to me with a stale look in his eyes, “I have brought you here to die.”
“Why?”I ask. “Why have you brought me to die?
Tell me the reasons.”
“Your hair is not yellow. Your eyes are not blue. You must die, because you are a Jew.
These are the reasons.”
“So, you say to me, because of the hair on my head and the color in my eye that I should Die?
Those are not reasons, not reasons to take me away, not reasons to make me pay.
There are no reasons.
There are no reasons for you to look at me with a stale eye.
There are no reasons for you to blacken this sky.
There are no reasons.
There are no reasons why you should not die just as I.
We are people just the same. The only difference is our aim.
There are no reasons.”
With anger in his eyes, he pushes me towards the door. “Go,” he says, “take your sight
From my eyes. Go! Go join your people in the black skies.
Forget your reason. I care nothing of your pain. We are not the same.
I have no reasons.”
I look back from the door of fire and wish unto him shame, shame for all of this pain.
Pain for which he has giving me.
No reasons.
As I stare in the face of my end, the reasons come to me.
I know the reasons.
Hate is the reason, the reason for the end of my days. The reason that they say I must
Pay. The reason I cannot stay. Your hate has decided my fate.
I know the reasons.
Ignorance is the reason. You do not know me. You have never seen my face and, yet,
You let the blind hate of others guide you to bring me to this place.
I know the reasons.
One day they will see what you have done here today
Even if it is many seasons from this day of pain. They will see
The reasons.
I beseech you to see these reasons and prevent these days of suffering and pain
that are Never ending to those who have weathered this ominous storm.
“The only thing necessary for evil to prevail is for good men to do nothing.”
* All rights to the poem are reserved and belong to the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust