Ich liebe dich

Nazi Germany. A little girl and her father. A painful goodbye.

“Ich liebe dich.”

Her tiny hand
Shrouded in a woollen glove
Grips tightly to her father’s.

She doesn’t know what is happening
Only that the world is in chaos
And that she must stay close to her father.

She hasn’t seen her mother
Since the men with the red and white and black
Took her away.

She never will again.

Her father glances down
A reassuring smile
Trying to pin itself to his face.

But it doesn’t work
Because there is no hope anymore.
Already he can hear them coming.

Crouching down
He wraps his arms around her
Tears leaking from his eyes

Like the blood they saw
On the people lying motionless
In the street where the men with the red and white and black
Had knocked them down.

“Nicht tun weinen, papa,”
her soft voice pleas.
Don’t cry, Daddy.

His grip tightens as they approach.

“Ich liebe dich.
Das duerfen Sie nie vergessen.
Ich liebe dich.”

I love you.
You must never forget that.

I love you.