August 5, 1942

Jerzy Ficowski

What did the Old Doctor do

in a cattle car

riding to Treblinka on the 5th of August

over a few hours of   blood flow

over the dirty river of time

I do not know

What did Charon the volunteer do

ferryman without an oar

did he give the children the remains

of   his breath

and leave for himself

just the shiver in the bones

I do not know

Did he lie to them for instance

in small numbing

doses

picking from their sweaty heads

the skittish lice of   fear

I do not know

but for that but later but there

in Treblinka

all their terror all the tears

were against him

oh it was only

so many minutes a whole life

is that a lot or a little

I was not there I don’t know

suddenly the Old Doctor saw

the children become

old like him

older and older

they had to catch up to the grayness of  ash

then when he was hit

by an Askar or SS man

they saw how the Doctor

became a child like them

smaller and smaller

until he was not born

since then together with the Old Doctor

there are plenty of  them nowhere

I know

Translated from the Polish