We Can’t Let Anne Frank’s Hopes and Dreams Die

by Ernie McCray 

I’m remembering
walking up a stairway
in Amsterdam
through narrow doorways
looking into nooks and crannies
in Anne Frank’s hiding place,
an annex attached to a home
where she chronicled
in a diary
that stands as a gift to humanity,
the trials and tribulations
of her people,
Jews,
targeted by an overly maniacal
form of hate
that wanted them
eliminated from the human race,
and being an empathizer
by nature
I felt overcome with emotion
as I strolled through her living space
imagining myself
being her, covered in fear,
and then amazingly finding
in me a measure of hope
as she showed
when she wrote:
“I have the feeling that friends are on the way,”
in reference to hearing the news
that the Allied troops
seemed to be coming through
in her people’s behalf,
paving a path for them
to feel safe
in the world…

But, oh, hatred dies a lingeringly
slow death,
like a chicken flapping
with its head cut off,
as today,
the loathing of human beings
connected in any way to Judaism,
is an animosity
that too many Nazi-minded folks
can’t let go,|
compelling them to
openly threaten
descendants of Abraham
with death threats
and anti-Jew graffiti,
their antisemitic deeds
leading to
the closing of Jewish day schools,
anxiety for students in Ivy League schools,
Jewish grandmothers and mothers
buying and learning how to shoot guns
to defend themselves against
such tyranny,
leaving our world society
with a mission
of not letting Anne Frank’s
hopes and dreams die.

Our quest for dignity
for everyone
lives on.