Paul Léon was murdered in 1942,
For the crime of being born a Jew
In Auschwitz concentration camp,
Oświęcim, Poland.

Paul Léon was James Aloysius Joyce’s friend,
Yes, the Joyce of Dublin & Galway,
Of Trieste, Zurich & Paris,
And, off course, Anna L’Liffey,
She who riverrun on & on,
Even till the Finnegans’ wake.

Joyce had lived in Paris for twenty years
He was so poor but everytime he had money
He paid for everyone in every bar,
He paid for every taxi, every restaurant.

Paul Léon heard Joyce’s leery voice
Echo
As he drank his white wine
On his day of Atonement.
And, like Molly,
Faithful sorry he was
At the ten year break
Between the two.

Paul Léon returned to Paris
To sort out Joyce’s papers,
After he was dead.
And the Gestapo arrested him
In 1942 his life ended
In Auschwitz-Birkenau
A shadow
Of that other dangerous, murdered Jew.