they don't even stop for the two minutes silence
cenotaph day - never mind respect the dead
or the sacrifice
as I walked in to administer meds last night
the man who sat on Ellena's bed wearing striped pyjamas
ashen faced
translucent
simply looked me in the eye and faded away
shrugging his shoulders
© Philip Johnson
Eleanor Margolis on her mixed feelings about Holocaust Memorial Day
Philip's words have appeared in: The Ugly Tree; Poetry Scotland, Emergency Verse, Write Away, Caught In The Net, Red Pencil, Writer's Hood, Transparent Words. He works in elder care.
