Another poem by David Koker (b. nov. 1921, Judendurchgangslager Vught 1943-1944, Auschwitz 1944-1945, died feb. '45 on the way to Dachau)

Ditty of the bitter end. Rondel

A dismal fate we’ve been accorded

sheer boredom to the bitter end

when the last few of us as sordid

smoke-pall from the stack ascend

So too my verse is disappearing

before that happens though I’ve penned

who knows if it will reach your hearing

this ditty of the bitter end

The smoke ends up by dissipating

and I have no more strength to spend

Better to straightway face cremating

as smoke-pall from a stack ascend

than years of boredom and of waiting

with even so that bitter end.