Night on Her Knees

Women walk on their knees

and utter cries strange and shrill as birds.

They throw themselves on the graves

of their children and eat the freshly-dug dirt,

until the other mothers pull them away, weeping too;

for what mother has not buried some small hope or dream

or blessing, and then been forced to walk away?

Night gathers her skirts above the tiny earthen mounds

and circles them on her own calloused knees.