Sense Sonnet - Acher

Cannot Outlive

Johannes Heesters is my name.
An entertainer is my trade.
Singing for Hitler gained me fame,
A mark of scorn that will not fade.
I performed at the Dachau camp,
For the Reich soldiers stationed there.
Later, I heard of its death stamp.
I did not know it then, I swear.
Caught in that time and place, I sang.
I did not know what else to do.
Day by day, I've felt the guilt pang
Of all that I closed my eyes to.

Decades later, a booed encore -
Past haunts at 104.