Facing The Lost

donskey 153 Franz Douskey Facing The Lost They look like victims of war you see on the evening news. They could buy all the bread they want if they could pay for it with regrets. The lost are everywhere: standing over dishpans, under broken streetlights; you see their great outlines on decayed tenement walls. I've seen hounds eat better than most of the lost. They rise out of dust. We hear they are hosed down, put in refugee camps, and given the choice of temporary or permanent silence. We watch the names on the globe change. We could help. We could unlock our doors, give money away, but that would disturb the balance. And how do we know who the lost are? At death they all take great mouthfuls of air. ...