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The pane
of glass frosted yet revealing

sullen faces
anticipating the death inside •••

A pilgrimage
of friends family finding

the way
through the cold air outside •••

o MY GOD CAN THIS BB HAPPENING AND
SITTING HBRB MY BODY PARTICIPATING
IN THIS HOPELESS HELPLESS RITUAL
OF LOVE AND FBEL THE OONSTIPATED
DEBATE OF GULLNESS AND BMPTINESS
INSIDE OF ME.

Their mouths
moving with the jeering limbS,

of trees
now stripped by autumn's leave •••

Harsh grayness
let in through the church door

and pushed
out again by the restless crowd.

AND THB GRIEF OF MOTHERS WAS cARRtBD
THROUGH THE HBAT AND HUM OF THB ROOM
AND A WAIL GREW BBTWBBN a..UTOfEDHANDS
AND DROPPED OUT OF SQUBEZBD EYELIDS
AND LINED FOREHEADS BORNB BY BBNT
HEADS AND HELD IN LAPS.

The mountains
looking in with impotent sympathy

bearing down
on the closed casket •••

The stove
incensing the room with warmth

clutching bodies
driven in by the cold •••

NOW A SONG AROSE AMOUNG US AND WAS
TOSSED BETWEEN SWAYING MOURNERS 0 LoRD
HAVE MERCY AND WE WENT OUTSIDE TO
BURY WHAT WAS AND HAD BEEN AND NOW
LOST BY WHAT IS.

Ellen Von Dehsen