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Sonnets From Other Lives: el Pueblo

At dawn the men with guns enter the village.
No one’s certain who these men might be.
Are they bandits come to kill them all & pillage
their impoverished pueblo? Possibly
they are narcos. Or perhaps guerillas.
They could be soldiers looking for subversives.
It is known that often men like these will kill a
man without explaining just what purpose
his death has served. Best then to do nothing
lest something causes them to take offense.
People scurry into their huts—rushing
to shutter windows & begin the tense
wait for what fate has in store today.
Huddling in darkened rooms, they pray.