AND SO THEY CAME
It was as if it had somehow been decided that ordinary griefs were not enough--
the sudden spill on the ice, the meeting with the dog bright in the eyes with rabies,
the dapper stranger with jewels in his mouth and ruin in his heart,
the sickening instant when it is no longer to be mistaken
that the bridegroom will not come, will never come,
these and the other warnings
of what can happen to uncles, cousins, friends--
None of these were enough--
for, right in the middle of all of them, they came with their shouts and their banners, their boots
and hoarse songs,
saying
this too will you have, because you are not only
sick and sickening to look upon
and already
outcasts on this earth and in our land
but also because you are not different enough
and if you too are people, what are we?