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Sport 34: Winter 2006

My Dead Surround Me

page 69

My Dead Surround Me

they stand shoulder
to white draped shoulder
faces laced with
the sweat of their struggle

lids my fingers have lowered
and eyes I have not touched
all closely watching

they stand in ranks around me
they do not speak
speech has ceased
with their blood beat

my ears have heard
their hearts' silence
my pen has ended their record
certified dead
vital signs absent

no mourning fills my mind
we stand there, smiling

no rictus, this

our smiles rise lightly
above the gravity

page 70

now they are
walking forward
gliding quietly
over the ground

and I am touched
by a soft shroud
worn and warm
like my mother

and still they move
until I am surrounded
by a caul
of my dead, smiling