Nelly Sachs

“World, they have taken the small children like butterflies and thrown them, beating their wings, into the fire--”
― Nelly Sachs

“You remember the footprint

All that is forgotten you remember from eternity

You remember the footprint which filled with death
As the myrmidon approached.
You remember the child's trembling lips
As they had to learn their farewell to their mother.
You remember the mother's hands which scooped out a grave
For the child which had starved at her breast.
You remember the mindless words
That a bride spoke into the air to her dead bridegroom.”
― Nelly Sachs, Collected Poems I: (1944-1949)