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VIGIL, by                    
First Line: I sat by the window in the somber night
Last Line: Of our brothers.


I sat by the window in the somber night,
When all was still, still as death itself.
I tell you there was no sound, but my heart
Pulsated to the march of feet that beat
Like deadly waves upon the ground.

I could not catch the slightest breath,
I could hear naught save a small frog's croak,
Yet wave after wave rolled upon my soul,
Stooped there, piteous, trembling,
Rolled and broke.

Somewhere in the dead of night were
Marching feet of men, men not yet free
From a mother's care; somewhere in that clustering
Dark, were others, listening even as I,
Offering prayer.

Dear God, you who hear the sounds withheld
From me, and love the crouched and sleepless
Mothers, make us to hear and see; give us
To walk unharmed in light and dark, make us keepers
Of our brothers.





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