words
offered
before
burials
or
the hearts
have
stopped
beating
words
on
any
other occasions
might
have raised
the dead
like
the widow’s son
at
nain
but
these words
with
angelic tones
are
political sound bites
that
echo
through polished
marble hallways
hallways
that are
the only
grave markers
and
eulogies
these homeless
will
ever have
such
concerned words
just
dry leaves
crushed
beneath
the feet of inhumanity
dust
without life
or
life giving
mere moments
of
fleeting guilt
insincere regrets
for
inaction
offered
before the graves
are
dug
or
the bodies
are
even cold