TWENTIETH CENTURY LIFE

If you're the one tongue
speaking of suffering

that sole breathing
that defies death

that Hitler's boot
could not reach

and Stalin's breath
1941, cheap perfume

could not smell,
between borders

and shadows
of a hundred centuries

past or yet
to come,

thank you,
and welcome

to the one thief
of the cross

who made up
for all our loss

from the face
of  Hell.