On June 12, 1942, Anne Frank received a diary for her thirteenth birthday. One month later, her family went into hiding.
She got a diary.
Red and white checked cover.
It was to hold a thirteen-year-old girl’s life,
Pet peeves, family outings, friends,
Movie stars, her annoying sister,
A flirtation, a hard teacher, the beauty
Of the canal water in the noonday sun.
She filled the pages
And the walls of her prison.
Words, pictures, lists, maps.
She wrote about the food she missed.
She described the chestnut tree
She and Peter observed
From the attic window.
Oh, Anne, you are ours
Because you filled those pages.
We did not save you,
But each day you
Continue to save us
Because you got a diary.
–Shaun Perkins
Rural Oklahoma Museum of Poetry 