AT THE MASS GRAVE
Surrounded by more silence
than an ocean bottom,
the workers uncover the mass grave.
Beneath a sky wider
than a head can hold,
a somber man holds up a skull
for all to view.
On a day punctuated
by small winds
harpooning our restless skin,
a relay of remains
brings us to a chilling standstill.
A soldier shrugs his shoulders
as if to say
who do these bones belong to.
But with gaunt eyes,
numb-mouthed memories,
we can only shake our heads.
No bone has a name.
Yet they all do.
About the Author: John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in New World Writing, North Dakota Quarterly and Tenth Muse. Latest books, ”Between Two Fires”, “Covert” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon. Work upcoming in Haight-Ashbury Literary Journal, Amazing Stories and River and South.
Image: Unsplash, downloaded (https://unsplash.com/photos/foggy-mountain-BCgYISXm4Os) 4. 1. 2025.
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