<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Memorial Day</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">In Afghanistan, we pour water</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">On the stones to keep memories</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Alive. So many stories,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">So many stones</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">An army of children</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Are employed, keeping</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Vigil from Bibi Jawaher's grave.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Bibi, twenty-seven years dead,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Gives them a home, gathering</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Place to watch as mourners</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Come to remember.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">A mother dreams</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Her son dying in suicidal flames</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">A lost love, temporary agony</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Assuaged by permanent solution.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Mother's agony indefinite, daily</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">She pays the boys to water</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">The stone.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Here the daily dead</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Mingle with War's harvest.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">The jeweler's mother</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Receives daily ministrations,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Her stone bathed </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">As one might bathe a baby,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Delicate, loving touch</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">From a boy whose attentions</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Buys bread for his family.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Bibi's name disappeared, </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Merged into the stone</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Is known by fingers</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Reading as though by Braille.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Water that remains </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">In the boys' buckets</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Honors her, gratitude remembers her</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">If only by name, daily.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">If she sinned, surely</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">The stone's frequent ablution</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Has made her a saint.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">"Death is easy here,"</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">The stone mason says.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">He used to construct</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Fireplaces, sculpt monuments,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Money was easy once.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">It flowed from foreign coffers</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">But like their soldiers,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Little stayed behind.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">The mason fortunate and flexible</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Lives by carving portraits</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Of the dead.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">The market thrived, alive</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Today the cemetery, home</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">To more and more </span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Is the City's center.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Every day here is</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Day of the Dead, Memorial Day</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Every day families picnic</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Children play.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Every day the Dead live</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none">Lives surrounded by loved ones.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; min-height: 15px;"><span style="font-kerning: none"></span><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal; -webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial;"><span style="font-kerning: none"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Rebecca del Rio</span></div><div>
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