Lamentation of Moroni

by Kara Dixon

They disappear like sparks

within the wind

and desperately I try to hold them

in my arms,

but they just burn away and die.

From up here on my lonely ledge

their deaths are quiet, quick,

so sadly familiar.

I cannot be among them,

holding their hands, hearing them

call out Abba! Abba!

as they fall, desperate and slow,

into death.

No, I am left here

writing words that cannot

save my people now.

I am left to watch and wait,

alone and cold

as the fires die,

one by one.

I am left holding out

my hands in supplication,

bowing my head to the God

that only they rejected,

and I cry tears that mix with dead ash

and stain my face gray.

Art by Sarah A. Treu

Photo by Kara Louise Haynes