The Scale (requiem for MC)

By Adam Steiner

I

“With accuracy
And without prejudice”
All you’ve written,
Seen and said

To wear the scars,
Denying blind
countenance
Of regret.

Another shining path
Of unsmiling teeth
Sown in useless rows,
Burnt-out brass lingers
Long after shell’s
Protection is spent.

Where stripped voices sound,
Under losing boughs
And divided sky,
Tessellate shards refract
The dancing wreath
Of birds in flight.

She re-made the scale,
Ugly truths
In her palm:
Force against “Conflict”
Distance versus “Genocide”
Silencing false echoes

From infinite dust,
Sifting blood and fire,
So others might follow
Demanding of new words,
A lived-through language
That must be seen to be heard.

 

 

Part II next weeked.

Click here for an Explanatory Note on ‘The Scale’

 

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