I found this poem I wrote a couple of years ago after visiting the Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem in Jerusalem. I just realised there is a reference to Pajeczno in it. I don't think that when I wrote the poem I thought that I would ever go to Poland.
Life is one very odd journey isn't it?


For my Great Aunt Tamar Koziwoda – May her dear soul be a blessed memory

Do you know that I was named for you Tamar?
I’ve known that all my life.
I know that you gave your life so that I could be named in honour of you.
I often wonder who you were,
What you thought
And what you felt.

You came from little Pajeczno
But we don’t know where you died.
Did you ever find love Tamar
In your short, beautiful life?

I feel like I’ve been searching for you my entire life
Like the sister I never had
You were simply born at the wrong time
Or maybe the wrong place
You never had a chance.

I finally found you
Or did you find me?
My dearest Tamar
In Yad Vashem I saw your name
Just one of millions of souls.
But still, I found you
And here in beautiful Jerusalem your soul can finally rest.


Israel, 9 December, 2003