For Sasha

Here by my window in Germany

A morning bird flies close to me

On his wing I see a yellow star

The lights are on in the factory

The frost is hung on the linden tree

And I remember where we are

And I remember the holocaust

I remember all we lost

The families torn and the borders crossed

And I sing of it now for Sasha

A young German officer lies in his bed

Bandages from toe to head

A prisoner of the camps draws nigh

If you are Abel and I am Cain

Forgive me from my bed of pain

I know not why we die

It was I who ordered the building burned

The job was over and as I turned

A father and his son

Caught in the flames high above the ground

From cradled arms the boy looked down

One leap and their lives were done

And I remember the holocaust

I remember all we lost

The children gone and the borders crossed

And I sing of it now for Sasha

You in frozen streets of Heidelberg

Your youth unbearded takes form in words

And the ghosts of the past are kind

For this was your university

The years were long but the spirits free

And your river runs to the Rhine

The smoke filled taverns that you once roamed

With the discontented who'd stayed at home

You must have whiskey or you'll die

The beer garden under the old chateau

Our faces now in the candle glow

See the memories how they shine

But you remember the holocaust

You remember all we lost

The families torn and the borders crossed

And we'll sing of it now for Sasha