THE ORGAN HARVEST
"It is said that Saint Romuald of Ravenna heard during a visit to France that he was in mortal peril because of the value of his bones - he fled homeward, pretending to be mad."
A friend of mine, his family's friends
Lost their son in Tijuana.
They wanted to know how he died.
The authorities told them
They didn't want to know.
They insisted they did.
They didn't. They did.
The authorities sighed.
He was killed for his organs.
They harvested him like a field
Gleaners pick over futilely,
Finding nothing, for every last
Ear was taken. The cavities
Of his body were empty,
Scooped out like those
Of the great pharaohs
Mummified in sarcophagi.
Somewhere in the darkness
Of the body of a stranger
His heart is beating.
Somewhere his kidneys.
Somewhere his liver.
Somewhere his eyes
Brighten in recognition.
They've seen this before.
It's the old world, the world
They loved. Then they dim,
For they were mistaken.
"It is said that Saint Romuald of Ravenna heard during a visit to France that he was in mortal peril because of the value of his bones - he fled homeward, pretending to be mad."
A friend of mine, his family's friends
Lost their son in Tijuana.
They wanted to know how he died.
The authorities told them
They didn't want to know.
They insisted they did.
They didn't. They did.
The authorities sighed.
He was killed for his organs.
They harvested him like a field
Gleaners pick over futilely,
Finding nothing, for every last
Ear was taken. The cavities
Of his body were empty,
Scooped out like those
Of the great pharaohs
Mummified in sarcophagi.
Somewhere in the darkness
Of the body of a stranger
His heart is beating.
Somewhere his kidneys.
Somewhere his liver.
Somewhere his eyes
Brighten in recognition.
They've seen this before.
It's the old world, the world
They loved. Then they dim,
For they were mistaken.