The Lists of the Dead

The Lists of the Dead

Frank Dullaghan

We contain ourselves,

live off our small hoard, make do

with the window’s vista;

our granddaughters’ voices

like birds flitting behind the laptop’s shimmer

around our empty apartment.

I watch the numbers daily climb

until I think too many will topple.

I already know, there’ll be names

I won’t want to accept

in the lists of the dead.

Nor can I say I won’t be one.

We name the ailments and vulnerabilities

of our siblings and offspring,

our distant friends,

as if this naming is a sacrament

that some god will heed.

But god is just the love that lives in the heart.

And so many hearts will stop,

so many hearts will lose their god.

Frank Dullaghan is an Irish writer currently living in Malaysia. Cinnamon Press (UK) has published four of Dullaghan's poetry collections, most recently including Lifting the Hatch (2018). Dullaghan has have work published in various international journals, including Queens Quarterly and Into the Void in Canada.

Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash.