His Death

The road was a long strip of burial cloths that day
Cream-colored and dusty, steaming with death.

The rain was the angels' silent tears
Tumbling out of the clouds and crashing heavily to the ground.

A landmark in the street she was
Crying over her child

Oh

Her child with eyes that had danced...
and remember his smile?
his smile always tore my soul.

The river of people swarming around
passing by
they were not there. Their invisible faces could not see
the woman and her son.

Her breasts heaved in keening sobs
Oh
Hear her mourning song it begins

climbs higher with her sorrow.
and
so tenderly low

Let her weep, I whisper anonymously in their beaten ears
but I need not for they have seen more death than Hades himself.

Across the grey river there is a soul waiting for his mother
he watches her rise and stretch her deathly arms toward the heavens
where a god sleeps.

And her cries are heard in Ramah
They are loud then soft, then aching with
a crowd of disbelief gathering in her bosom.

He was her only son, they whisper in my ear, but they needn't specify.

The road was a long strip of burial cloths that night
Cream-colored and clean, empty with tears

She stood in the road a landmark
Reminding us of where her lost son lay
(eyes no longer dancing, smile no longer tearing our souls)

He is not here! she cried loudly to the fragments of stars
He has been sent across the river
You have no hold on him, o foolish night

I brushed a crystal tear from my cheek and saw her
raise again her empty arms to the sky.