Credo

for the disappeared of Guatemala

Six hundred names erupt from a brick wall.
In black on loosely-taped-up plastic sheeting
they say that love will win in spite of all.

Handwritten lists on plain material
create a speaking backcloth to our meeting.
Six hundred names erupt from a brick wall –

more powerfully charged than nuclear arsenal –
to state a case that strengthens with repeating:
they say that love will win in spite of all.

It echoes from each individual –
the cry that death itself is self-defeating.
Six hundred names erupt from a brick wall . . .

and countless more have brief memorial.
We hear then answer relatives’ entreating,
they say that love will win in spite of all.

Accusing, blazing, making festival
of what cannot be lost . . . in sudden greeting
six hundred names erupt from a brick wall.
They say that love will win in spite of all.