Jacqueline Jules
The Story of Pastor Niemöller
First they came for the communists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a communist.
—Pastor Niemöller
Not me. Not mine.
The pastor thought
when the Nazis came
for the Communists.
He wasn’t one,
so why should he care?
And he wasn’t a Jew
or a priest or
any of those others.
So why should he care?
Seven years in the camps
turned his silence into shame,
knowing when they came for him,
there was no one left to complain.
Jacqueline Jules is the author of three chapbooks, Field Trip to the Museum (Finishing Line Press, 2014), Stronger Than Cleopatra (ELJ Publications, 2014), and Itzhak Perlman’s Broken String (Evening Street Press, 2017), winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize. Her poetry has appeared in The Broome Review, Sow’s Ear Poetry Review, Hospital Drive, and Imitation Fruit, among other periodicals. She is also the author of 40 books for young readers. Visit jacquelinejules.com.
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