*
Submit
Login
Links
Contests
Featured Poems
Fun & Games
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Dictionary
Poem Types
Books
Resources
Blogs
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
POTD
New Poems
Anthology
Classifieds
Quotes
*
Contests
Featured Poems
Fun & Games
Poems
Poets
Famous Poems
Famous Poets
Fun & Games
Dictionary
Types of Poems
Books
Resources
Blogs
Syllable Counter
Articles
Forum
Poem of the Day
New Poems
Anthology
Classifieds
Quotes
Email Poem
Your IP Address: 162.159.114.57
From Email:
Required
Email Address Not Valid.
To Email:
Email Address Not Valid.
Required
Subject
Required
Personal Note:
Poem Title:
Poem
"Hill of Jews," says one, named for a cemetery long gone."Hill of Jove," says another, and maybe Jove stalked here once or rests now where so many lie who felt God swell the earth and burn along the edges of their breath. Almost seventy years since a troop of cavalry jingled up the silent road, dismounted, and loaded their rifles to deliver the fusillade into the small, soft body of Ferrer, who would not beg God's help. Later, two carpenters came, carrying his pine coffin on their heads, two men out of movies not yet made, and near dark the body was unchained and fell a last time onto the stones. Four soldiers carried the box, sweating and resting by turns, to where the fresh hole waited, and the world went back to sleep. The sea, still dark as a blind eye, grumbles at dusk, the air deepens and a chill suddenly runs along my back. I have come foolishly bearing red roses for all those whose blood spotted the cold floors of these cells. If I could give a measure of my own for each endless moment of pain, well, what good would that do? You are asleep, brothers and sisters, and maybe that was all the God of this old hill could give you. It wasn't he who filled your lungs with the power to raise your voices against stone, steel, animal, against the pain exploding in your own skulls, against the unbreakable walls of the State. No, not he. That was the gift only the dying could hand from one of you to the other, a gift like these roses I fling off into the night. You chose no God but each other, head, belly, groin, heart, you chose the lonely road back down these hills empty handed, breath steaming in the cold March night, or worse, the wrong roads that led to black earth and the broken seed of your body. The sea spreads below, still as dark and heavy as oil. As I descend step by step a wind picks up and hums through the low trees along the way, like the heavens' last groan or a song being born.
Type the characters you see in the picture
Required
Member Area
My Admin
Profile and Settings
Edit My Poems
Edit My Quotes
Edit My Short Stories
Edit My Articles
My Comments Inboxes
My Comments Outboxes
My Poetry Duels
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder
Member Authors
Poetry Challenges
Soup Social
Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us
Member Poems
Featured Poems of the Week
Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread
Member Poets
Best New Poets
New Poets
Top 100 Poets with Most Poems
Top 100 Poets with Most Poems Recent
Top 100 Community Poets
Top 100 Contest Poets
In Memoriam
Famous Poems
Famous Poems - African American
Famous Poems - Best
Famous Poems - Classical
Famous Poems - English
Famous Poems - Haiku
Famous Poems - Love
Famous Poems - Short
Famous Poems - Top 100
Famous Poets
Famous Poets - Living
Famous Poets - 100 Most Popular
Famous Poets - Women
Famous Poets - African American
Famous Poets - Beat
Famous Poets - Cinquain
Famous Poets - Classical
Famous Poets - English
Famous Poets - Haiku
Famous Poets - Hindi
Famous Poets - Jewish
Famous Poets - Love
Famous Poets - Metaphysical
Famous Poets - Modern
Famous Poets - Punjabi
Famous Poets - Romantic
Famous Poets - Spanish
Famous Poets - Suicidal
Famous Poets - Urdu
Famous Poets - War
Poetry Resources
Anagrams
Bible
Book Store
Character Counter
Cliché Finder
Poetry Clichés
Common Words
Copyright Information
Grammar
Grammar Checker
Greeting Card Maker
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Short Stories
Spell Checker
Videos
Word Counter