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Robert Lindner
OK Jack,
You asked for it.
Here is part 1 Rose is my mom and Paul is my dad.
Warsaw, September, 1939
The bombing began on September first,
And with Luftwaffe, blitzkrieg, the world was cursed.
In Warsaw, Helen’s city, as the bombs fell,
She played on her violin while all hell
Broke loose. “Just get away from the windows!”
A voice shouted. Her sister-in-law Rose.
But Helen was defiant and angry.
“To hell with the bombs, they’re not making me
Run away.” She yelled, as the violin
Sang under her flying bow. It flashed in
The fire of the antiaircraft weapons
And the glowing search lights that gleamed like suns.
She played Bach’s Chaconne, her favorite piece.
She played, as if she could make the bombing cease.
Rose watched her and then yelled, “What’s the worst thing
That can happen? Right! You might break a string.”
And laughed. “Laughter, it’s what you have to do,
When the world is coming down around you.”
Rose would later say, long after this first
Day of the war, which would not be the worst.
The worst was yet to come. This was day one.
And the second world war had just begun.
The world changed. Just three months ago in June,
Rose got married and Helen played a tune
That was quite different. A little song
By Mendelssohn. Now her bow flies along
The strings as the Luftwaffe flies overhead.
Before day’s end many would be dead.
But this was not the prelude anymore.
This was the first chapter of the world war.
In which many millions would be displaced
Or die. Not knowing what troubles she faced,
Rose threw herself into a soft arm chair
And listened to Helen play, as the air
Outside the large windows filled with fire
And smoke. But Rose would not sit and admire
This scene for long because their husband’s calls
Took them to safety in a shelter’s walls.
There Rose was worried and Helen was vexed.
But neither one knew what would happen next.
They all sat there in the shelter that night.
Then went to check if others were alright.
It would be the last time they were all there.
The next day bombers were back in the air.
Helen’s husband Matthew, a doctor was
Called into service the next day because
There were so many casualties to treat.
He would be captured after the defeat.
After the brief siege of Warsaw ended
And the city couldn’t be defended
Any longer. The army had retreated.
And Poland’s division was completed.
Then the Soviet armies would march in,
When division by Hitler and Stalin
Of Poland was set later with a treaty.
There on September first they would all be
Huddling in the bomb shelter waiting for
The bombs to stop. And though there would be more
Bombing, it stopped. They looked at each other.
There was Rose and Helen and their brother.
And the husbands and their parents, Toly
And Joseph. Paul went to get some Stoli.
“You can’t stay sober at a time like this.”
He said, downed some and gave wife Rose a kiss.
Helen laughed and picked up the violin.
She plucked the strings, tucked it under her chin.
“What’s the worst thing that could happen?” She said.
“We could be dead drunk or end up dead, dead.”
And she played a Russian tune, a folk song.
She didn’t know that it wouldn’t be long
Before they would all go to Russia to
Escape from the war, but this day they’d do
What they had to, to stay out of harm’s way,
Drink vodka and sing and Helen would play.
It was just the first day of the long, long
Tales of a world war. “What else could go wrong?
What’s the worst thing?” They would laugh, drink and sing.
Well… Toly, she’d worry, that was her thing.
She lived through the first world war, so she knew
What else could go wrong, what a war could do.
But she could not imagine the worst thing
That would happen. This was the beginning
And there was nothing they could do, but hope
For the best and expect the worst and cope
With the struggles they would have to endure.
The disease had come. They must find the cure.
The disease was war. It was the first day.
As the bombs dropped, she began to pray.
But the bombs had stopped, they were in the calm,
But she knew the storm would return with bomb
After bomb. The war had begun. “Day one,”
She thought, “Much more to come before it’s done.”
Still, the family was there together.
Though storms were coming perhaps they’d weather
Them. “With God’s help,” she thought. That was Toly.
Anatolia. Queen of all that’s holy.
A Russian name from Tolstoy’s War and Peace.
A place once part of Alexander’s Greece.
“Toly” for Anatolia and Tolstoy.
Rose and Mathew’s mother and Joseph’s joy.
She enjoyed the singing, but not the Stoli.
But she took a little wine. That was Toly.
The wine was holy. It was Sabbath night.
And she had brought the candles down to light.
Silently she said the Sabbath prayer.
First “Boruch,” ending with “l’had lik ner.”
“Shell Shabas!” They all yelled and raised their hands.
They did not know they’d be wearing armbands
With the star of David in days to come.
But on this night, Joseph began to hum
The prayers and Helen played behind him
And the mood became sober, but not grim.
Though they were in the cellar, there was light
And candles, food and wine for Sabbath night.
They sat on the extra chairs that were for
Parties when there was a dinner for more
People, for the extended family.
They’d have to wait for tomorrow to see
How their loved ones had faired. It did not pay
To worry, nothing could be done this day.
Friday, September 1, passing into
Memory. Into Saturday, a new
Day, day two of the story of this war
That would go on for two thousand days more.
But tonight Helen would play the hora
And “Hora Staccato” which was more a
Gypsy tune and flashy violin show
Piece and everyone clapped along so though
There was great madness in the world outside
Their shelter tonight they would sing and hide
Their worries and fears, as September One
Went into history. War has begun.
More than two thousand days to go
Before it ends. So this continues, though
Not as long as War and Peace, with Toly,
But not with Tolstoy, as the family
With Helen, Mathew, Joseph, Paul and Rose
And they must go on as long as life goes
On. There shall be horror, struggle, and more.
And amore, but you will have to wait for
Sunrise on day two, to see what’s in store
For the family, including some more
Of many other family members
Whose names and stories wait for September’s
Days to pass and become October’s days.
It’s 1939 and in the haze
Of war there shall be an escape or two,
Some hiding, some harrowing travels through
Borders and on trains that are attacked by
Dive bombers. But today ends, the sky
Is quiet and the family must sleep
When they can. Though tomorrow they may weep,
Today they sang, prayed and played through their fears.
And next? There’s this war that will take 6 years.
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