Janusz Korczak, 1878 -1942, Doctor, Author and Director of the Orphanage, Warsaw Ghetto.
Listen to the song : A MESSAGE TO THE CHILDREN, for Janusz Korczak : Lyrics by Miriam Halahmy, music by Helen Bonney, performed by Jack Cooke.
Dare to dream...something will always come of it. Janusz Korczak.
On August 6th 1942 the Nazis entered the Warsaw Ghetto orphanage. They marched the 200 orphans with Janusz Korsczak and the staff to the station. They were all deported to the Treblinka death camp where everyone perished. I visited the orphanage in 2004 and wrote the poem below as a tribute to Korsczak and all who perished with him.
A message to the children
I cannot give you God
or a happy life
I cannot keep the truth from your gaze
but even as the pavements
weep beneath your feet
I can give you a longing for life
I can give you rhymes
and the comfort of my hand
I can give you pride
in the neat parting of your hair
before the final moment
when we take up our bags
I can give you courage to walk on.
Don’t ask me why tonight
just this once
no questions ‘til tomorrow
and when the morning comes
don’t look into the soldiers’ eyes
stare straight ahead
keep the flagpole steady
and we will reach the other side together.
© Miriam Halahmy
