Yesterday I was not a Jew

Yesterday I was not a Jew

Required to leave my home, to take a train,

To meet all the expenses

Of my deportation, enslavement and death.

But yesterday there were too few;

The trains, the quotas were not filled.

Functionaries cringed from stinging criticisms.

The answer was to define anew,

A Frenchman did this with enthusiasm.

Now I meet the definition, today I am a Jew.

I have no time to hide, they are already at the door.

26 November 2008, updated July 2021