An Open Letter to the Unacknowledged One

(The Anonymous Voice from the Camps)

Original Text

Surviving the Censor: The Unspoken Words of Osip Mandelstam, ed. Allan Briesmaster (Hamilton, Ontario: Seraphim Editions, 2006): 54.

1There was no prayer in the camps. Hope and belief had

2been scorched out of every man long ago. It was so

3obvious it stuck out like the bones that protruded from

4the faces of prisoners as they waited for their time to

5expire, for a finger to be pointed, and for their bodies to

6fall. The end was so close but we were carried away on a

7caravan of days and it seemed as if we would live

8forever. During this period a new form of petitioning the

9Unacknowledged One was created. Those who were too

10weak to recite their request did so by urinating into the

11frozen snow. They left one line to represent a stick man

12and a second line crossing it out.

13we are the drowning men

14who have never spoken your name

15our lives ended long ago

16when we were pulled from our homes

17our bodies have been slow in receiving the message

18they fight on without knowing

19we are waiting in these camps

20for death to arrive

21we have no fears

22except that we may survive

23to meet another day another memory

24if you are the Ruler the Power and the Source of Mercy

25please, please, take us now

26even in this dark place

27we have never acknowledged you

28or lit a clump of wax

29to illuminate your name

30our voices are strange to your ear

31but this is not a prayer but a plea

32from men who have reached the bottom

33and continue to drown

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2012

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