WLADYSLAW SZLENGEL

The little station Treblinka

On the line Tluszcz-Warsaw
From the Warsaw -East station
Railways leave
And go straight...

And the trip lasts sometimes
Five hours and three quarters
And sometimes lasts
The whole life until death...

And the station is very small
And there grows three fir tree
And there is a simply inscription
Here is station Treblinka

There is no a cashier
No a baggage man
Not for a million will you get
A return ticket...

No one is waiting on the station
No one waves a handkerchief
Only a silence hangs
And greets with deaf emptiness.

And the station's pillar keeps silent
And the three fir trees keep silent
And the black inscription keeps silent
That…this is station Treblinka

And only hangs from once
(An advertisement anyway)
A worn out old inscription
"Cook on gas".

Translated from Polish by Dr. John Nowak and Halina Birenbaum

Wladyslaw Szlengel (1914-1943) was a Jewish Polish poet living in Warsaw.
He was killed in Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943.