In response to our visit to Auschwitz, I wrote a song in an attempt to honor the memory of those who perished. Below are the lyrics:
The tears that you have cried
Are rivers on the earth,
Calling out to us
The pain that you endured.
The waters testify
To what has happened here,
They never will forget
And neither will I.
The path you trudged along
Is hardened by the years,
It testifies to us
And beckons us to hear
The silent melody
That sails through the air,
Your memory remains,
Your story we’ll share.
There’s a purpose we can’t see,
That changes history;
From death has come new life,
As we end all our strife.
Redemption was the plan,
To mend the broken past;
Forgiveness is the tool
That makes our lives whole.
The faces on the wall
Stare stiffly in the frame,
Crying out to us,
That life be not in vain.
We honor you today,
For all you suffered through;
Remembering your name,
In all that we do.
A carpenter once came
To people of your kind,
His life was thought a shame,
As grace made people blind.
He suffered once for all
And calls out still to us,
“Forget about the hate;
Receive all my grace.”
*The final verse is in reference to Jesus Christ, who was a Jewish carpenter coming to share a message from God to the Jews. He is the ultimate Redeemer who creates beauty from the ashes of our lives.
