La Villa de Silencio

La Villa de Silencio

The houses squat

multi-colored

around the cobbled courtyard

archways and wrought-iron

bars, graceful, decorative

final

within, young mothers their

children in school their husbands

at work,

hour upon hour

stare at the portrait of

the Virgin,

humming softly, each

to herself

Maria…

Like the tongue

of a coyote,

the narrow road

rolls out past

the houses to the church

the steeple

an erect finger

accusing God

and Carlos pauses

in its shadow

removes his hat;

above his bare

scalp

the bell is so still

he cannot remember

its sound