my darlings, i need your help...

[pandoralily]

to my poetry-minded friends (and the rest of you), i need so constructive criticism. there's a potery contest at school about the holocaust and "passing on the torch" as such. i have a poem i would like to submit, but i'm not sure if it's that good. so it would be wonderful if you could look at it and suggest some things. thank you so much!

Eyes stare from the wall,
pleading, emploring.
"Do not let me die"
They were not numbers,
They had names,
favorite colors,
dreams,
wishes.
The were families,
full of great aunts
sitting and knitting hideous sweaters.
And second cousins
circled around the fire with stories to tell.
The left legicies
generations long.
Passing down histories,
the good china,
a locket or two.
They had children
with chubby cheeks and innocent eyes.
Their children had children,
and so on and so forth
untill we sit here today.
We clutch at bits of old lace,
books with yellow pages and faded print,
the real and tangiable that is left.
We look upon the photographs
hanging from the walls.
Pick out the faces,
the eyes and the smiles.
we may have forgoten the exact names
but they stay in our hearts.
So we keep the histories,
we wear the lockets.
And we never let them die