Festivities
There were many dead
those leaden days.
Sorrowful festivities
eulogies, priest always
controlled the tears of women
with his fingers signaling
in front of the altar
matins, red dawns
sometimes a lone crow
wished us a better future
amid prickly pear trees
while daffodils insisted
to always bloom come
each optimistic March
Manolis Aligizakis 