Day 324

We say it cannot get worse and it gets worse.
We say the sky cannot grow any darker 
when it is still day, yet darkness covers it
like a shroud.  We say there are no more shrouds
to wrap the children in, we will have to use towels.
And when we use all the towels we will 
rip our clothing, tear it to ribbons, not to bury them
naked.  Not to think of them chilled
in the chilly ground.  We say the trees
are still rooted though they’ve lost
their branches.  We say the soil
still holds what they need.  We say
goodnight, goodnight, we have made it
one more day, and tomorrow 
we will tell each other the same words,
we will touch our hands to each other’s cheeks,
we will count the living and the wounded,
we will remind ourselves that the sea’s rhythms
do not change, that the songs we have sung
do not change, that the dead are not gone
but speak through us, teach us what to remember.