Day 716

Their voices are loud now,
the voices of those
whose bodies were crushed,
burned, shredded to pieces,
lost, starved, exploded,
eviscerated. Turned to dust,
merged with the dust
of the air, the ground. Their voices
are loud. Are clear. They are calling
to those they loved. To those
they never knew. They are crying out
to the oceans, the rivers, the animals.
In all the dialects of the earth
they are shouting “justice”
and “stop” and “enough”
and “a billion times more
than enough.” At times they are singing.
They are singing songs
of mourning and rage and tenderness.
Their songs thread the savaged land
with everything they will never live.
Listen. Listen. Listen.