"To the Little Polish Boy Standing with His Arms Up"
by Peter Fischl
You can see Fischl read his poem here:
I.
I would like to be an artist
So I could make a painting of you
Little Polish Boy
Standing with your little hat on your head
The Star of David on your coat
Standing in the ghetto with your arms up
As many Nazi machine guns point at you
I would make a monument of you and the world
Who said nothing
I would like to be a composer
So I could write a concerto of you
Little Polish Boy
Standing with your little hat on your head
The Star of David on your coat
Standing in the ghetto with your arms up
As many Nazi machine guns point at you
I would write a concerto of you and the world
Who said nothing
II.
I am not an artist
But my mind has painted a painting of you
Ten Million Miles High is the painting
So the whole universe can see you now
Little Polish Boy
Standing with your little hat on your head
The Star of David on your coat
Standing in the ghetto with your arms up
As many Nazi machine guns pointed at you
And the world
Who said nothing
I'll make this painting so bright
That it will blind the eyes of the world
Who saw nothing
Ten Billion Miles High will be the monument
So the whole universe can remember you
Little Polish Boy
Standing with your little hat on your head
The Star of David on your coat
III.
Standing in the ghetto with your arms up
As many Nazi machine guns pointed at you
And the monument will tremble so the blind world
Now will know
What fear is in the darkness
The world
Who said nothing
I am not a composer
But I will write a composition
For five trillion trumpets
So it will blast the ear drums
Of this world
The worlds
Who heard nothing
I
am
Sorry
that
it was you
and
not me
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1 comments:
Thank you for sharing this information.
I visited the MOT in Los Angeles and happened to watch the copy of the poem signed by author himself on the 4th floor of the building.
After I came back home, I read it and was moved.
The explanation said:
This composition was created by Peter Fischl, in memory of his father, Timbor Fischl and the six million Jewish brothers and sisters who perished in the Holocaust.
Peter's final communication from his father was a farewell telephone call on November 27, 1944
From the Ambulance Station in Budapest where his father had been hiding, just before he was taken away by the Nazis. In dedicating this memorial, Peter Fischl hopes to "Help people learn from history, so that no-one has to experience what the little Polish boy in the picture went through."
Donated to the Museum of Tolerance
April, 2009
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