Urgroßvater

Your heart wrenches as distant shores are approached

Home left and land lost in the hands of another

You left your home behind in the hands of a raving man

He’s good for the country, they said

He’s rebuilding the infrastructure, they said

He’s rebuilding the army, they said

He’s going to make Germany Great Again, they said

Er wird Deutschland wieder groß machen, sie sagten

You escaped one evil and arrived in the arms of another

Ostendorf? That sounds like a kraut name, are you a Nazi?!

Nein — I mean, no…

Hide it, hide the language, the heritage, the name — maybe they’ll leave us alone

Please leave my family alone

So you speak German? Do you even speak American?

You must be a Nazi sympathizer, or maybe even a spy…

Your children walk down the street — sneers and jeers follow them as you head to church

Warum tun sie das? — why are they doing that?

Sprecht Englisch, meine Kindern, ich bitte euch. Speak English my children, I beg you.

Make them forget; it will save them

You open your arms to all of the German immigrants entering the Miami Valley

That’s a lot of Germans, maybe they’re joining together to take us down from the inside

We should keep our eyes on them. They’re just as shifty as the Jews. Even worse, they’re Catholics

The WASPS of America watch your every move. Maybe one day your children will shed this stigma

Two generations have since passed:

I am learning German. Great-grandfather, are you proud of me?

Ich lerne Deutsch. Urgroßvater, bist du Stolz auf mich?

I’m going to Germany this spring — Ich gehe diesen Frühling nach Deutschland

Although I won’t be visiting your hometown of Oldenburg, I still pay tribute to you.

So, thank you very much — herzlichen Dank. Your sacrifice was not in vain

I’m grateful for what you’ve done for this family

Poems