Out­side the Ecole des Hos­pi­tal­ières St Ger­vais, Paris, a plaque
com­mem­o­rates 165 Jew­ish chil­dren deport­ed in 1942.

 

He takes his slab of quar­ried stone
mea­sures it, cuts to size,
etch­es the inscription.
No space for names,
just the num­bers: one-six-five.
Crys­tal frag­ments spill like tears
around his bench, as tungsten
chips the keen­ing marble,
stut­ter­ing ham­mer-head on steel
echoes through the silence
forc­ing truth from its rocky bed,
ash-white dust clings to his fingers
as he sands and buffs the fine Carrara
smooth as a lip’s caress on infant skin.
 

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