Elya Uzan’s poem was awarded Honours in the 2015 HK Holocaust and Tolerance Centre’s Art and Essay Competition. Elya is a recent graduate of DC. A descendant of a Holocaust survivor, Elya has always felt a deeply personal connection to this horrific chapter of human history. The focus of the competition was ‘Why Remember?’ and in her poem, Elya emphasises the dehumanisation of the victims as well as the burden of history. She writes about the common fate shared by so many and, ultimately, we must remember them because of the common humanity that unites us with the victims.
Black, white, grey blood
was shed.
It was all the same, as were they,
as we are.
Under countless suns and moons
the human blood remains.
Now only a trail of dust,
dry soil, drenched in history.
No rain or snow
could nourish the gravel.
The dampness of love
could not seep into the fine sand
of ground bones and memories.
Their moisture evaporated,
they are unidentifiable –
the granules of thoughts and feelings
that will never reccur.
But a name or face is not needed
for a gain to be rememered.
Alongside the rest
it lies within the fields,
the streets
the tracks.
Part of a shared identity.
The blood is not dust.
The bloosd is not individual.
The blood is all the same.
as were they,
as we are.