A Poem for Congo Square on a Friday afternoon.

R.G. Evans sent this poem, a Villanelle I believe, after participating in the bone laying in Congo Square. Thank you, Mr. Evans, for your words capturing the day.

OFFERTORY OF BONE

For 50,000 souls who aren’t there,

we kneel and bring this offering of bone,

these 50,000 bones in Congo Square.

These ribs, these skulls, these vertebrae we bear,

memento mori honoring those gone,

those 50,000 souls who aren’t there.

We carry them with elemental care

as if they were the bodies of our own,

these 50,000 bones in Congo Square.

Beat, drums, the way you did once in this square

in voiceless tongues that cried We’re not alone,

we 50,000 bones in Congo Square.

Place skulls, cross bones, proclaim Beware

and draw the gaze of those could condone

the reason there are bones in Congo Square.

With ease, we turn our backs, say C’est la guerre,

but these bones cry the war is here at home.

There’s 50,000 souls who aren’t there,

these 50,000 bones in Congo Square.

R.G. Evans

Hotel Monteleone, 4/7/12

In honor of the One Million Bones Project