Day 322

Are you listening?
There are voices speaking 
from under the rubble.
Voices of bodies long disappeared,
long decayed, long rendered
unrecognizable.  Listen:
they are telling us
they are not gone.  They
still have something to say.
They are telling us that they remain.
They are voices of children singing.
They are voices of mothers
calling to their children.  Calling and calling.
They are voices of men, old men and young men.
They are sounds of animals:  dogs crooning,
cats looking for their homes.  Are you
listening?  They are calling out names
of the living.  They are asking 
something of us.  They are sad
and angry, strong and tender.  You
might say it’s only the sound
of the sea, the sound of the wind. Listen.