Tuesday, April 10, 2018

Mute Witness


The flowers.
The teddy bears.
The candles.
Ranged against the fence of the school
Lingering
as a mute witness
to an immense tragedy.

The line where water had been
rising against the house
Into the house
as flood waters raged.
Trees uprooted.
Roads washed out.
The remains
Lingering
as a mute witness
to an immense tragedy.

The small cross
with silk flowers
standing at the side of the road
near the guard rail
marking the place of unexpected death.
Lingering
as a mute witness
to an immense tragedy.

We toss them about
in our minds.
The u-shaped contrail of a 9-11 jet.
The empty chair at dinner.
The broken heart.
Lingering
as a mute witness
to an immense tragedy.

The quote "It lingered as a mute witness to an immense tragedy" is from James Harish's Easter Earthquake and refers to the contrail left by the Challenger space shuttle after it exploded.  

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home