In a bookstore on the East Side
I read a veteran’s testimony:
the running down for no reason
of an old woman in South Vietnam
by a U.S. Army truck
The heat-wave is over
Lifeless, sunny, the East Side
rests under its awnings
Another summer
The flames go on feeding
and a dull heat permeates the ground
of the mind, the burn has settled in
as if it had no more question
of its right to go on devouring
the rest of a lifetime,
the rest of history
Pieces of information like this one
blow onto the heap
they keep it fed, whether we will it or not,
another summer, and another
of suffering quietly
In bookstores, in the parks
However we may scream we are
Suffering quietly
Other Adrienne Rich songs:
all Adrienne Rich songs all songs from 1973