Entitlement

By Danielle Hazart

When the gates are reopened;

When the cells are unlocked;

When the remains are buried;

When the houses are rebuilt;

When the fathers stop searching;

When the mothers stop wailing;

When the children stop shaking;

When the people stop dying;

When the schools resume their sessions;

When the hospitals resume their care;

When the birds resume their song;

When the people resume their lives;

Do not look for gratitude to grace

the useless flesh of your ears.

Look to the sky, where their griefgrief

soars high above the clouds

to every parent without a child;

to every child without a parent;

to every soul without a vessel;

to every spirit without a God.

By Danielle Hazart