Ghosts of the Gulag
whisper,
Why didn't you come for us
In "The Land of Chains and
Ice,"
Vorkuta, Lena River,
Khabarovsk?
"Zones of silence"....here
and home,
Rechlag's blood-stained
ground.
We ghosts of the Gulag
whisper,
Will our spirits be
unbound?
No folded flags....no
tears for us,
Red guards, barbed wire,
cold fear.
Night march to an
ice-bound river,
"Red Freedom".... Oh so
near!
Our weary hearts ..... in
cadence beat,
Americans....single file.
Shots pierced the air with
freedom!
Freedom....gulag style.
No bugler's "Taps"....No
last Amen!
Dark murders....no white
stones.
Evil men betrayed our
families,
In the Gulag....and at
home.
Soldiers bound in chains
of lies,
On the cold, north side of
Hell;
We dug....with American
shovels,
Shots rang....and then we
fell.
Naked soldiers....crimson
snow,
Our clothes a funeral
pyre.
Free at last from
our Polar Hell,
False promises....barbed
wire.
Forgotten, abandoned,
classified men,
We ghosts of the Gulag
arise,
With chilling words
on gulag winds;
"Without truth....Freedom
dies!"
Promise-bound....between
worlds,
One of spirit....One
alive;
God's warriors of time's
holocaust,
Whisper......Some still
survive!"
Copyright 2005
Marsha Burks
Megehee
(Revised; The
Gulag Study 5th edition, Feb. 2005)
