Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." Exodus 20:12.
It was on that dreadful day that I lost everything.
I stepped out the doorway; it was ten o’clock.
I died with the first blow and was buried
Among the rocks of our family’s field.
On my ear, blood dried, mixed with filth
And my apparition rose from the fall of stone.
I stepped out the doorway; it was ten o’clock.
I died with the first blow and was buried
Among the rocks of our family’s field.
On my ear, blood dried, mixed with filth
And my apparition rose from the fall of stone.
There was a stillness, and then there came a mighty storm.
Nine kilometers away from where I laid,
The haystacks and houses were burning.
My wife, my friend, my peer,
Left alone to bleed and plead for mercy.
The ground beneath her was dark, drenched with blood.
You know death, lurking in ambush.
The Meaness of Men.
The haystacks and houses were burning.
My wife, my friend, my peer,
Left alone to bleed and plead for mercy.
The ground beneath her was dark, drenched with blood.
You know death, lurking in ambush.
The Meaness of Men.
I sent forth screams. They echo insanely
And vanish amidst the roar of the flames.
If you listen hard, you can still catch the echo,
The loathing of the voice and the darkness.
In that chaos of movement you were in me, permanently.
And vanish amidst the roar of the flames.
If you listen hard, you can still catch the echo,
The loathing of the voice and the darkness.
In that chaos of movement you were in me, permanently.
My dream-your voice, entwine.
A man will give his life for his child.
His only son.
I loved you. I really loved you
But the light inside you is fading.
Darkness is taking over fast.
A man will give his life for his child.
His only son.
I loved you. I really loved you
But the light inside you is fading.
Darkness is taking over fast.
My son,
You have fallen from the nest,
Your roots have been ripped from the earth,
Your milk, poisoned
I could not save you.
You have fallen from the nest,
Your roots have been ripped from the earth,
Your milk, poisoned
I could not save you.
An orphaned child,
Broken raven eyes,
Quivering with a cry.
I peer into the mists beyond Death
And I see you. I see only you.
A forsaken man who no longer weeps.
You’re so tired you no longer fear.
Broken raven eyes,
Quivering with a cry.
I peer into the mists beyond Death
And I see you. I see only you.
A forsaken man who no longer weeps.
You’re so tired you no longer fear.
Oh forsaken creature! A man ringed by death!
You know the taste of blood in your mouth.
You cannot scrub free the stains upon your hands.
You lost everything that day
Because you lost me.
You know the taste of blood in your mouth.
You cannot scrub free the stains upon your hands.
You lost everything that day
Because you lost me.
As the sun moved to die at mid-morning,
I began to multiply in the womb of the Earth.
In this and only this, did I find salvation.
Man makes earth fertile; earth bears him flowers and fruits.
I began to multiply in the womb of the Earth.
In this and only this, did I find salvation.
Man makes earth fertile; earth bears him flowers and fruits.
My inheritance to you is my anger and my wrath.
You will wander in a lifetime of misery.
Live sleeplessly for five million nights,
Disease shall render you powerless,
Your offspring will avert their faces from you,
Guilt will drive you to the edge of Madness,
And winds will throw screams of crows at your grave.
You will wander in a lifetime of misery.
Live sleeplessly for five million nights,
Disease shall render you powerless,
Your offspring will avert their faces from you,
Guilt will drive you to the edge of Madness,
And winds will throw screams of crows at your grave.
No day shall erase your sins from the memory of time.
And when you stand before
The flaming Gates of Paradise,
Your sins of Parricide
Will burn brighter than the Morning’s star.
The flaming Gates of Paradise,
Your sins of Parricide
Will burn brighter than the Morning’s star.
The place you will go to is silent,
Darkness stares out from everywhere
And no one is there.
But you will come back
And so shall I.
Darkness stares out from everywhere
And no one is there.
But you will come back
And so shall I.
And when we find our way back to one another,
In a different life, under a different sky,
With what kind of faces will we confront each other?
In a different life, under a different sky,
With what kind of faces will we confront each other?
Author's Note: This is a cento composed from poetry lines from Against Forgetting: Twentieth-Century Poetry of Witness by Carolyn Forche.
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