Lament

My heart stopped,
but my body went on.
Love, have mercy on me.
The sky was ash,
the earth a cinder.
I don't know why I lived.
I walked up fifth street.
I walked up fifth street.
My face became a stranger.
I woke in chambers
with others around me,
sat down amid joy,
ate without hunger.
My body went on,
my face a stranger.
The sky was ash.
I ate without hunger.
My love died,
but my heart went on.
I don't know why I lived.
Love, have mercy on me.

Copyright © 2007 Philip White All rights reserved
from The Clearing
Texas Tech University Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission