Kindertotenlied in Seville

Tonight

The very strings of my heart were torn

Asunder

When a woman’s voice shrilled poignantly

Skyward,

I in the street beneath her window,

Listening.



A boy with a stave and an uptown girl

Passed quickly by

Not noticing this song of loss 

That, grief-filled, soared

Heavenward,

Rending apart the very threads that hold me together

So fragilely.

Sierpes, Sevilla 4 viii 86