Midweek Review
The Legacy of the Missing
By Lynn Ockersz
Whether they were spirited away,
In the arid stillness of the night,
In the city’s fear-frozen by-ways,
By ghoulish figures in vans,
Or brought down in battle,
By nerve-grating, lethal weapons,
That erased villages from maps,
And swelled ‘Missing in Action’ lists,
Promising lives, from wherever they hail,
Have, thus, been made to disappear,
Leaving behind a string of questions,
Begging in vain for answers,
Along with a grieving community….
Mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters,
Whose sobs may be heard but dismissed,
In the besieged fortresses of power,
But there’s none other imprisoning weight,
Than the accusing conscience of a criminal.