The Pianist

by: Kaylia Esteen

Warsaw, now down to ashes,

Szpilman flees the hospital to the ghetto
Now an abandoned, desolate wasteland
Of bricks and rubble, there he now stands.

Rummaging through burned-out buildings

In a desperate search for food,
The ghetto, he continues to hide,
Thats until a man appears.

A Nazi officer discovers him,

Wilm Hosenfeld is his name.
In hopes to prove that he is a pianist,
"Ballade in G Minor" is what he plays.

Moved by The Pianist's playing,

Hosenfeld helps him survive.
Allowing him to continue hiding in the attic,
Even after the house stands established as the Captain's headquarters.

The house, eventually abandoned along with the staff,

As the Russian army draws closer.
A final parcel and an overcoat,
This is what Hosenfeld gifts to him.

'Your surname?' he asks Szpilman,

His name, which sounds exactly like 'Spielmann',
The German word for pianist.