THE BURNING
BUSH
Giovanni Malito
“...every question possessed a power
that did not lie in the answer.”
From Night by Elie Wiesel
It is early morning
some time during WWII
in the main compound
of a concentration camp,
somewhere
the sun has not yet risen.
A young boy and two men
condemned to be hung
are made to approach
the gallows. Other prisoners
are made to watch but all eyes
are fixed on the boy, so young
and lividly pale but for blood
so grimly red on his bitten lips.
Endless moments pass until
the chairs are finally tipped.
The two men die quickly
but the boy kicks and kicks.
He struggles for a half-hour
as the others are made to watch.
It is a death dance, an agony
They are all made to share.
A constrained voice mutters –
Where is God now?
Another voice answers –
There, He is hanging there,
Kicking at us from the gallows.