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 © | Year Posted 2016


Post Comments

Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.

Please Login to post a comment

Be the first to comment on this poem. Encourage this poet.

Get a Premium Membership
Get more exposure for your poetry and more features with a Premium Membership.
Book: Reflection on the Important Things

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
Soup Mail
Poetry Contests
Contest Results/Status
Followers
Poems of Poets I Follow
Friend Builder

Soup Social

Poetry Forum
New/Upcoming Features
The Wall
Soup Facebook Page
Who is Online
Link to Us

Member Poems

Poems - Top 100 New
Poems - Top 100 All-Time
Poems - Best
Poems - by Topic
Poems - New (All)
Poems - New (PM)
Poems - New by Poet
Poems - Read
Poems - Unread

Member Poets

Poets - Best New
Poets - New
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems
Poets - Top 100 Most Poems Recent
Poets - Top 100 Community
Poets - Top 100 Contest

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 - Most Popular
Famous Poets - Top 100
Famous Poets - Best
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
Homonym
Homophones
How to Write a Poem
Lyrics
Love Poem Generator
New Poetic Forms
Plagiarism Checker
Poetry Art
Publishing
Random Word Generator
Spell Checker
What is Good Poetry?
Word Counter