LAMENT
by David Radavich
A shadow comes over me.
The shadow of the world.
Bombs bursting, apartments
crumbling, children screaming,
holes opening in the ground
leaving everything’s absence.
I cannot sleep, I scarcely cry.
Prayers seem never to help.
Even trees weep in the rain
with their green funerals.
No one lives a song
in daytime or the night.
Silence lurks in every corner,
every dark repentant soul.