Responding to a Poem

Holocaust
by Barbara Sonek

We played, we laughed
we were loved.
We were ripped from the arms of our
parents and thrown into the fire.
We were nothing more than children.
We had a future. We were going to be lawyers, rabbis, wives, teachers, mothers. We had dreams, then we had no hope. We were taken away in the dead of night like cattle in cars, no air to breathe smothering, crying, starving, dying. Separated from the world to be no more. From the ashes, hear our plea. This atrocity to mankind can not happen again. Remember us, 
for we were the children whose dreams and lives were stolen away.




1. Construct a response to this poem using the same style and structure.


2. Be mindful of your perspective. Your poem should be from your perspective.


3. Utilise the same techniques employed by the author.


We saw, we cried
we where horrified.
You where torn from our loving arms
and alive they burned you upon a pyre.
You where nothing more than children.
You had a future. You could have become lawyers, rabbis, wives or mothers. You had dreams, they took away your hope. They stole you away in the dead of night like cattle in cars, all bunched together smothering, crying, starving, dying. disconnected from our world to be no more. From ashes, we heard your plea. This abomination to mankind must not occur again. Remember them,
for they where our children whose dreams and lives where stolen away.