As I walk . .
through the valley
shadows follow me
Antiphons
Gregorian
Ambrosian chants
faintly heard
in the night's thin mist
choruses
for the damned
perfect hymns
for the dead or dying
a requiem for the walker
whose time is near
or has come
revenant graves lay unbound . .
as souls roam
searching for
a sacred place to rest
and with every step
they chant
"Do you know
the names of the guilty
and the faces of the innocent . ?"
"Do you remember
what has been done . ?"
"Do you remember the ones . .
whose hands it was
that created the carnage . ?"
T h e y C h a n t . . !
A n d C h a n t . . !
until
only the essence of the chant
remains
© mingoáo

