Ann Frank

ANN FRANK

 You said you wanted to live
      after you were dead
 No-one can deny you have
 But did you really live before?
 You tell us more by what
      you do not say

 You were the schoolgirl
      who talked too much
 and justified herself
      by talking even more
 Always you justified yourself
 even when you knew yourself wrong
 At bottom, position counts

 How secret did you keep your diary
      in the Secret Annexe?
 The others knew of it
 Can any have read it?
 They threatened it when they thought
      the enemy threatened

 They must have come quickly
 for you in the end
 Neither you nor they
      destroying its evidence
 Only rescued even then
 by office cleaners

 Was she not right
 whose pessimism you so
      harshly criticised?
 And what was it cracked your spirit
      finally?

 Was it the death of your sister?
 Or the strain of two years
 living so closely with hatred
      among friends?
 Or losing the lover you had gained
 in spite of your self and his?

 You talked always of feelings
 now, and sometimes then,
 but hardly ever talked
      of after

© GERALD ENGLAND

Composed: Ashton under Lyne, 4th April 1980

Publications

1988 New Wave (USA)
1992 STEALING KISSES (Hyde, New Hope International)
1999 The Animist (Internet)