10.
Night over the great and the little worlds
of Brooklyn, the shredded communities in Chicago,
Argentina, Poland, in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Amsterdam,
Manchester, England, night falls.
The Day of Atonement begins in how many divided hearts,
how many defiant lives.
Toronto, Managua, St. Johnsbury, and the great and little worlds
of the women.
Something ancient passes across the Earth,
lifting the dust of the blasted ghettos.
You ask if I will eat, and I say, yes, I have never fasted.
But something crosses my life, not a shadow, the reflection
of a fire.