I Often Wondered

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I often wondered what I would have done
when Hitler came to power
Jews rounded up, along with “loose women”
gays, people with disabilities, people with color,
dissidents and Roma
Just like Latinos, Arabs, Africans, Asians
and even some original inhabitants
today in this One Nation Under God
When I didn’t yet know I was the granddaughter
of Eastern European Jews fleeing from pogroms
I thought I would be a hero
protecting Jews, hiding them in a closet or cupboard
shielding them from the gestapo
and brownshirts in cities    el campo    towns
who roved like the bounty hunters of today
in my state and country
Today in my state and country
from parking lots our gestapo and brownshirts
wearing gray masks and black hoods
grab families shopping for food, clothes, diapers,
and workers going about their business
And in fields where our food is grown
Proud Boys in ICE uniforms
pop out from behind bushes,
circling fields filled with grape, apple,
potato pickers who race from their grasp
hauling parents from howling children
When I found out I am Jewish,
not religious how can you believe in god
in this unholy earth,
but Jewish by heritage and looks
the scars of my forebears’ tortures
became mine, carved into my cells,
They came for me a map of my history
Today in my state and country
I see neighbors         yellow stars
Illegal Aliens           Der Untermensch
detention camps       transit camps
unmarked cars          boxcars
fenced tent cities      walled ghettos
I often wondered what I would have done
when Hitler came to power
Jews rounded up, along with “loose women”
gays, people with disabilities, people with color,
dissidents and Roma
Now so help me godless
it is no longer time to wonder