How Does Anyone Live

With others dying,
With others being
Abandoned and killed,

Others dear to them,
Others far from them—
How anyone lives

As if living were good
And necessary
And something to plan,

Something to extend,
And not violent,
Not cruel in the end,

Hard to understand.
The body doesn’t
Ever understand.

It just keeps going
As long as it can,
Sometimes with a shriek

Circling in the mind,
Sometimes with a bland
Denial it can’t.