Today I Should Have Been Ninety-Four

 

**Today I Should Have Been Ninety-Four**

If life had been kind,

I would have had a big birthday party today,

With cake, laughter, and love all around.

Two wonderful sons, a sweet daughter too,

Grandchildren to hug and cherish.

I would have met a tall, handsome man,

He would have worked in the city.

We would have lived in the countryside,

With two dogs, a cat, and joy in our home.

Margot, my dear sister,

Would have lived close by,

A mother herself, maybe,

While our parents beamed with pride.

We’d have toasted to life, to health, to love.

But instead, we slept on hard, wooden beds,

Shivering from hunger and cold.

We were punished for reasons we couldn’t control,

And there were no toys, only pain.

My mother, starving herself to feed us,

Fell weaker every day.

The camp was full of sickness,

And rats lived where we stayed.

I dreamed of meals I’d never taste—

Potatoes, bread, maybe meat.

I imagined washing it down with wine,

And a treat, something sweet.

My best friend was in another camp,

Her laugh, a memory that kept me going.

At least I had Margot by my side,

Loneliness was the hardest part.

Then came typhus, and we fell ill.

Doctors didn’t come, no help arrived.

Margot left first, then it was my turn.

For us, death was mercy.

I hope our lives weren’t wasted.

I hope the world remembers—

Hatred destroys everything.

Let my diary be a lesson.

**In memory of Anne Frank (1929–1945)**

Source: Facebook - Royal World

Anne Frank was born June 12, 1929 and died in a concentration camp in February or March 1945, shortly before British troops liberated Bergen-Belsen on April 15, 1945. Anne Frank died at the age of 15.