Cargo Of Love...Handle With Care.

Cargo of love...Handled With Care.

It was a labor of love,
as old reluctant arms
tossed beloved flesh,
a six year old Gretl,
off the slow moving

heavily packed cattle car.
Grand-mum knew

she was bound
to a place called die,
and she trusted that
God would catch Gretl
long before she tumbled into
any serious trouble by being,
alone and just a child
in a strange place.

And God did.
He used an angel called Jacob,
who took her under his mortal wings
and raised her like his own.

But his family also

fell on hard times,
much like Gretl had

four years back,
so he took her back

on a train to Germany
to some necessary orphanage care.
What terror she must have felt,
climbing aboard what
she had been cast off of,
not so long ago,
but his arms held her close.
While she slept,

he read the newspaper
and suddenly fate provided

another way out for her.
South African families
were seeking orphans,
and that was perfect.
So she set out,

on a vast journey

with his blessings
cross her chest,
and lived well

with her new family,
as Jacob re-trained himself
and learned to

live without her.
Broken-hearted

he returned to Poland,
until about ten years later

when she was twenty,
and studying to be a success.
Then he showed up

at her families door,
fleeing from an

oppressive government
on another train,
railroaded because

he was anti-communist.
They fell into

each others arms,
as ten years melted

away in an instant,
and she still felt safe there
but also was very attracted
to this big strong man,
who saved her from tragedy.

They spent so much time together,
laughing and remembering,
and soon enough falling in love,
Once again older arms
lifted her up, and set her free,
in a free fall back
into his care forever.
They got married,
in spite of parental controls,
and her most happy train
of her whole entire life,
was the wedding train
that fell behind

her beautiful gown.
Her honeymoon

was on a blue train,
but it was a whole lot

less blue then the one,
her grandmother

threw her off of.
And somewhere in

the distant blue.....above
Her Grandmother smiled.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

©-MFB III

 

 

Author Notes:

 

Gretl was a six-year-old girl who got thrown of a train by her grandmother that was on its way to a labour camp in the middle of world was 2.
She obviously did this to save her.
She found her way into the arms of the 21-year-old Jacob who took care of her on the countryside of Poland providing her with a good catholic education.

Four years past and Jacob and his family couldn’t take care of 10 year old Gretl, so she and Jacob take there first train trip to Germany where she will be placed in an orphanage.

Reading a newspaper on the train Jacob stubbles upon an article about South African Families seeking German orphans to adopt.

He makes the most difficult decision in his life by deciding that she should go…

Her last moment with Jacob were spend on promises of keeping contact by looking at the moon and wearing a wooden cross, witch could be their only contact, no letters, no words no photos.

Gretl took the long trip to South Africa where she met her South African family.
They were wonderful; they gave her everything she ever wanted.
She even got baptised in the Afrikaans herformde Church.
And her name changed to Grietjie.

Meanwhile in Poland a broken Jacob tries to go on with his life.
Riding the train brings back memories of letting the most important little thing in his life go.
Going on a train seems to becoming a sad experience for both Jacob and Gretl.

Ten years later Grietjie is a second year student at university and doing very well, Jacob always used to say she is very clever.

One night she receives a surprise guest and reaching the visitors door she sees for the first time in ten years the strong built of a man that she used to know and love, its her Jacob and he is here, in South Africa.

After the shock of seeing him, she falls in his arms and for the first time in 10 years she cries again…again in his arms.

He explains to her that he had to flee out of Poland because he was Anti communist.

The next hear was the best in her life, she had her Jacob back, they spent all their spare time together.

But now things started to change.
When she was a little girl in his arms, he wanted to protect her and keep her safe, now when she crawls up under his arms, he can feel that his little Gretl has become a beautiful woman.

Grietjie now sees a beautiful strong man…a man that she wants to spend her rest of her life with.

Realising that they are in love with each other was a difficult fact to face.
Her parents wont be happy, they come from different backgrounds and they have a 15-year age difference.

But they both knew that they were meant to be with the other…She knew it the day she saw the 21 year old boy, and he knew when she shortly after became the most important part of his life.

Grietjie’s parents were a huge obstacle, but they accepted Jacob by the time she turned 21.

On her 22 birthday they got married, and yes, their honeymoon was a trip on the famous South African Blue train, where their most sad memories started a life full of happy moments.

Jacob and Gretl started a journey of their own…


This is a brief summary of a book I just read called
"Tussen Stasies" by Erma Joubert