Axis & Allies - damowords

The Final Question
Heydrich receives Hitlerʹs whim thro Himmler,
Schutzstaffel konferenz to Wansee borne,
Yachts dallying on a gentle water
& sumptuous luncheon laid on the lawn;
Aft finger licks
& champagne guzzlʹd hard
They step thro the dorics of the villaʹs façade.
ʺThe time hath come for Endlosung,”
Chirpʹd Heydrich over brandy
ʺEv’ry last drop of blood be wrung
From the Jews methodicʹly,
Sparing not the avengant young,
Raise hands if you agree…”
This fateful act of faith these fellows share,
Adds Eichmann, “At last we shall breath clean air…
At Auswich an innovation
Has successfully been tried,
The gas Zyklon... deportation
Shall drain Europa wide,
In fifty months eleven million Jews will have died…”
Berlin
January
1942
Leningrad
Snow falls with a blizzard‐bitter harshness
As onwards, ever onwards, rolls the war
See mighty canon‐Krupps sent to oppress
The celebrated ‘Venice’ of the Czar
Constant shellfire
Rains down on every side
No redoubts to retire, no bunkers for to hide.
Despite worsening misery
Of the cold, hungry half‐dead
Men kept alive through poetry
& the sawdust in their bread
But few hold on to sanity
With bellies barely fed
Soon only pets allay the frozen tear
Then first few little children disappear.
The great square fills with men & guns
Oktober’s famed parade
Revolutions’ glorious sons,
But this was no parade
Saluting Lenin’s statue off to fight the foe they made.
January
1941