Monk in Auschwitz 6
Crumbs
All night long he had coughed
Then silence before dawn—
Merton found him, dead,
His stockings gone,
But under his head
Some crumbs of bread
Still hidden there.
Whereupon Thomas took them
In his priestly hands,
Spoke words over them
And placed them
In outstretched palms
Of those standing round
To save them from starving.
Crumbs
All night long he had coughed
Then silence before dawn—
Merton found him, dead,
His stockings gone,
But under his head
Some crumbs of bread
Still hidden there.
Whereupon Thomas took them
In his priestly hands,
Spoke words over them
And placed them
In outstretched palms
Of those standing round
To save them from starving.