March 2004 - Tower - Page 11
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Lindsey Nicolai receives first place in Third Annual Holocaust Writing Competition for Students
Lindsey Nicolai was recently awarded first place in the Middle School Division of Third Annual Holocaust Writing Competition for Students sponsored by The United Jewish Community of the Virginia Peninsula.
Lindsey's assignment was as follows:
In 1942, Pavel Friedman, a 21-year-old
Czechoslovakian was deported from his
home in Prague to Theresienstadt, a ghetto
used as a transit camp. He wrote the poem
"The Butterfly" while in Theresienstadt.
| THE BUTTERFLY |
|---|
|
The last, the very last, So richly, brightly, dazzlingly yellow. Perhaps if the sun's tears would sing against a white stone... Such, such a yellow Is carried lightly 'way up high It went away I'm sure because it wished to kiss the world goodbye. For seven weeks I've lived in here, Penned up inside this ghetto but I have found my people here The dandelions call to me And the white chestnut candles in the court. Only I never saw another butterfly. That butterfly was the last one, Butterflies don't live in here, In the ghetto. |
Congratulations, Lindsey!
If you have any comments on any of these pages, please email me:
Robert W.(Bob) McKitrick, thanks.
Last update: June 3, 2004
Last to Fly
Lindsey C. Nicolai
Last has always been the worst,
least of all things, never first.
But when it comes to butterflies,
Hope-filled thoughts drown out old cries.
Cocoons and past worlds left behind,
While peaceful things now flood my mind.
In this case, I am the last,
A butterfly with a tragic past,
Painted the orange which I have earned,
Flaming scars indelibly burned.
Finally released from this mangled net,
Paying the price of another's debt.
Added stripes of fiery red,
I am the last; no more blood will be shed.
What do you call this way I feel?
Is it an abyss, or was it surreal?
A morbid black encases me,
Bittersweet memories of why I'm free.
Others died, yet I was spared,
at times if felt like no one cared.
Looking back, sad days gone by,
now with hope, I look to fly.
Peaceful things now ease my mind,
Tragedy, sorrow...
Left behind.
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