Why?

While my body was imprisoned,
My soul was free.
Now that my body is free,
My soul is restless.

How could this happen (or be)?
Have I not dreamed of total freedom?
The dream that stayed with me for years
I dream no longer—shed no tears.

Embraced with memories so vivid,
I suffer quietly alone.
There’s no one left who shared my sorrows,
Who walked with me the road of horrors.

How many thoughts remain unspoken,
But memories can’t fade away.
The horrors of the past still haunt me,
The ghostly shadows won’t dissipate.

I tried to free myself, pretending it never happened.
Oh, what a fool I was in thinking I could easily forget.
My nights are long, my thoughts are lingering.
The past will always be with me.

No matter how I try, there’s no escape from what was real.
Should I continue to reveal?
Should others learn the true life story
Of more than one who can no longer tell?



Bannister, Nonna (2009-03-20). The Secret Holocaust Diaries: The Untold Story of Nonna Bannister (pp. 239-240). Tyndale House Publishers. Kindle Edition.


I know that there are people who can relate to this poem and so I thought I would share it.