Editor’s Note: Maile Faust, a junior at Francis Parker School, wrote this poem inspired by Elie Wiesel’s “Night,’ during her freshman year. Her family is of mixed Jewish-Christian ancestry. Maile has seven years of ballet and 8 years of Free Style Martial Arts, in which she has earned a black belt. An honors and advanced placement student at Francis Parker, she intends to pursue a college degree in mechanical engineering.
(c) Maile Faust
Blue skies turn black,
Filled with the fire and smoke of human souls.
Green grass withers,
As though Mother Earth can sense the horrors above.
White snow runs red,
Filled with the outpouring of immense suffering.
And amid Hell on Earth,
One boy looks up at God,
And sees only Endless Night.
Love is carried away,
And burned in the fires of the crematorium.
Hope shatters,
As more and more people take their final breath.
One boy looks at the fires,
And feels as though his faith is disappearing,
In the vastness of Endless Night.
Brotherhood and friendship are consumed,
By the ultimate cruelty of mankind.
Stars disappear from the sky,
Chased away by the sorrow of the innocent.
Happiness is forgotten,
As tears fall onto the bodies littering the ground.
While looking upon these sins,
One boy remembers the unseen prophet,
Who’s mind was filled with Endless Night.
Later,
One boy looks at the gates that lead to Hell on Earth,
And recalls the loss of so much,
During the reign of Endless Night.
And,
As one girl turns the pages of unquestionable horror,
She sheds tears,
As her heart fills with the feelings of one boy long ago,
Who lived through the Endless Night.
Thank you, Ms. Faust, for carrying these lost and precious souls in your heart. In a time when many have never even heard of the Holocaust, you are a precious gift to us all.