Because He Looked Away...

I wrote this last year for World Civ. I had to write a poem about some sort of sacrifice during World War II. I don't know if this counts as sacrifice, but they gave me full credit for it. :)


Because He Looked Away

Hidden in the darkness
underneath the bed,
I feel the wood’s rough hardness
dig into my neck.

Softly, slowly breathing
desperate not to quake
lest the Nazis find me
and drag me to my grave.

Footsteps coming closer
open up the door.
All intent on murder,
cross the bedroom floor.

Hands reach down towards me,
lift the blanket low.
I know that I’m not breathing.
and now the Nazi knows.

He’s no more than a boy, I think,
a young one just like me.
But he is armed and deadly,
and I am small and weak.

Eyes wide open, staring
look into my own.
The Nazi starts preparing,
and now my doom is known.

His shoulders start to shake,
his hands drop to his sides.
“If freedom you will make,
stay here. You must still hide.”

“There’s no one here,” he calls
and drops the blanket down.
The footsteps leave along the hall,
there is no other sound.

Unhurt, unharmed, unscathed
I am here today.
Saved by a stranger’s grace,
because he looked away.