Living history
At the end of my street
on the corner of the market square
the brick wall of the building
is scarred with bullet holes
and a small brass memorial plaque
I pass it most days
without really noticing it
this remainder of a war
before I was born
Amsterdam is full of them
One day I am chatting
with an older friend
who was my age in that war
and we talk about New Year’s Eve
which is in a couple of weeks
She tells me she hates it
because of the fireworks
they remind her of the war
so she goes to England
where it is quiet
I am puzzled
Amsterdam was not bombed
like Rotterdam or other cities
no tanks or artillery
where was she in the war
She explains that she was
a bicycle courier in the resistance
carrying messages
to different cells because
a girl on a bike was invisible
One day she was in the Boomstraat
to pick up a message
then headed toward Noordermarkt
when she got to the corner
she saw German soldiers
They lined up some resistance
people by the wall of the
building on the corner
and executed them
as she rode by
She could not stop
because that would have
put everyone in danger
so she had to keep peddling
while the shots rang out
My friend apologizes for always
refusing my invitations for coffee
because I live in the Boomstraat
near the corner of the Noordermarkt
and the forever sound of bullets
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