The train howled thru the night
Whistle screaming, sparks flying and
Black steam bellowing
Through small towns and
Rural country sides
Pleading, needing, knowing,
Please do not hate the train!
Flimsy box-cars rocking back and forth
Cool night wind blows through souls
Human cargo packed like sardines in a can
Women, children, babes, elderly,
Destined for a special kind of hell
Never thought possible…
Please do not hate the train!
Schedule to keep, can’t be late
Engineer and Gabriele blowing horns
Sending out a warning to humanity
Piercing blasts awaken sleeping villagers
As they peer into the night
Watching the black steel snake
Slither along the country side
Red to the rear…
Please do not hate the train!
Headlight shines upon steel ribbons
All black and on the track!
In the 8th notch full speed ahead
Something evil this way comes
Soot and cinders baptize the train
Desperate people huddle and cuddle
Each other in a knowing silence
Please do not hate the train!
Finally, the train begins to slow
As the brakes take hold, first service
Entering yard limits
Must stop within half the range of vision
Slowly entering the end of steel
Dogs barking, angry men shouting orders
Doors flung open, the “others”
Made to separate women and men
Grey morning, putrid smoke,
Blocking early morning Son!
Welcome to Auschwitz, USA!
Please do not hate the train!