Vigil For Dominic
. Vigil For Dominic
Dominic,
I saw you the night they carried
you down the cat walk
to the clinic.
We were shouting and yelling,
Get him to a hospital,
and we banged our shoes
against the bars until
they came with tear-gas and hoses
to drive us back to silence.
All week long
we kept waiting for them
to bring you back,
or at least give us word
of your healing,
but they would not even
acknowledge our existence
behind the bars,
and one of the inmates
began to pray.
Saturday,
they came and took
your clothes.
We started shouting again,
Leave his damn clothes alone
You bastards.
Dominic’s coming back,
but they looked at us
as if we were crazy.
Dominic,
it’s been ten days
since they took you away.
I have counted two hundred
shadows across my wall.
Some of the men are whispering
you won’t be back, and this morning
I heard one of them crying
as if someone
was listening to him.
The men are praying
that you have escaped
Dominic.
Lord have mercy.
All day long
we have heard convicts
digging and shoveling
outside our windows.
We hear they are
Building more graves.
Dominic,
make them bring back
your clothes.
Make them bring me
your shoes and your books.
I want to read your diaries.
I want to steady my soul
with your poems.
Dominic, tell me again
how they can never kill you.
Copyright, 2016, Kathy's Songs, Crimson Cloak Publishing
Copyright © Mark Conte | Year Posted 2016
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