A man walked up to me some time ago.
He had a story he wanted me to know.
He reached out his hand to shake mine,
And it took me back to a place and time.
He told me he was a soldier in World War II,
A POW in Moosburg; sad but true.
As he began to tell the story, I could see in his eyes,
He'd gone back to that place in his mind.
He said "110,000 men walked through those gates.
The Nazis were filled with nothing but hate.
The camp was thronged
And we knew our stay there would be long.
The floor was hard and the nights were cold.
Young men grew malnourished and old.
They must have feared me because I was put in a cage,
And all I could do was pray.
I cannot tell you how many days I was there,
Only that every day I said the same prayer.
I asked the Lord to send someone our way,
to get us out of there and take us far away.
On April 25,1945,
He sent someone just when I was ready to give up and die.
The Fourteenth Armored Division came crashing through.
It was The Liberators, with a job to do.
They were there to set us free!"
And with a smile he said, "Everyone erupted with glee.
A soldier came running my way,
And he reached down and opened my cage.
After all these years I never forgot that man's face or what he did for me.
My only regret, I didn't get to thank him when I got up from bended knee.
Now he's standing in front of me shaking my hand.
So thank you sir, because you were that man."
POW Camp In WWII
The Cage
Published by Family Friend Poems November 2019 with permission of the Author.
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ABOUT THE POET:
Jodi M. Kucera lives on the eastern plains of Colorado in a farming community, and she loves it there. She is married to her best friend and is a mom to four amazing kids. Jodi is a long-distance runner (how could she not be with those views?). She also bakes and decorates custom cakes.
Jodi is the daughter of an Army Sergeant who...