> ## Content Index
> Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.andyposner.org/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further.

# Reichstag
- URL: https://www.andyposner.org/reichstag/
- Published: 2019-02-03T14:47:51.000Z
- Updated: 2026-07-15T05:03:09.000Z
- Description: It doesn't matter who lit the flame that burned the Reichstag down, only that it burned and so few considered what cremation means to those who long for proper burial.
- Author: Andy
- Tags: America on the Brink, poetry, America, freedom, Hitler, inequality, Martin Luther King, protest, social change, #Migrated-1784090317409, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-07-15 04:39

It doesn't matter who lit the flame  
that burned the Reichstag down,  
only that it burned and so few  
considered what cremation means  
to those who long for proper burial.

Were there citizens to witness  
the arsonist at work?  
Could they have his intentions doused?

No matter. The economy was bad  
and it felt good to scream  
“*Reichstag! Reichstag! Reichstag!*”

For days the embers lingered  
like a bee in nectar drowned.  
For days the ashes flowed  
like the violent undertow of waves  
of people marching the streets,  
where it was a relief to chant  
“*Reichstag! Reichstag! Reichstag!*”

Soon they would find employment  
in factories for tanks, planes, bombs,  
like so many ceramists shaping bleak urns  
at minimum wage—

But it did not matter  
because the economy was bad  
and there was cruel solidarity in singing  
“*Reichstag*!" long into the torchlit night.