Linda Gabriel

They were all silent
How could they have not talked about their death?
The radio, newspapers even the TV did not see this as news worthy

There were silent
No one talked on how their home was turned into a ghost house
All one could hear at night were squeaking tea cups and broken pots
That illuminated gray ashes in the skies
It sounded as if some people were always doing dishes in the night
Am told that the night it happened they were caught doing dishes

They were silent
As they watched this cold house
In what used to be their bedroom were broken mirrors
If you tried to look yourself in them you would meet their 4 eyes staring right into yours
And voices came in rushed whispers from their favorite red ties narrating how they were murdered
They scarfs they wore on that day had turned into a fiery red and yellow
On winter nights the scarfs would glow lightening up the whole house

In the living room the music never stopped
The radio channels kept on changing
As if some kid was tempering with the remote4
From a distance one could hear the laughter of a dancer

They were silence because they knew the truth
Their shadows could be seen hanging clothes on the washing line
Separating dark from light colors
At noon they would been seen taking them off and folding them neatly into the laundry basket
If a trespasser was close they could hear them humming to Bob Marley’s ‘Stir Up’

These two lovers
Were made to piss on them selves
These two lovers were skinned alive
20 toes, 20 fingers we cut off one by one in slow motion
Their teeth were plucked out by chisels
Their corks were cut off, to disgrace them
Their bottoms were set on fire on gasoline
Their tummies were butchered open
For their insides to hang outside and be poked at
They were left hanging from the ceiling of the house they had shared in secrecy for a number of years
They were left to die facing each other
So that each could witness their partner’s last breathe

If these two lovers were your brothers, uncles, cousins or close friends
Would you have allowed a mob to murder them?
Would you have watched them die?
Simply because they loved each other