Into the Forest and all the Way Through

by Cynthia Pelayo

Now those three children know the way of Questions, and the emptiness of answers, and The disappointment that when the doorbell Rings or when the phone vibrates in their hand It is never their mother

what good is checking on your neighbors if you are unwilling to save Them?

And when police Officers finally approached the man suspected in your Murder, in the murder of Elizabeth, and Tammy and Mary, And Rosario, and many more — he killed himself, because That is what cowards do.

It remains a mystery, they say. But there is no mystery when someone Knows, and others won’t speak,

So many men say they do not know What happened to the now missing women who were once under their care.

Many questions, but if the questions Are all answered they cannot profit From your murder

if there’s anyone Who could know how to spin a lie How to weave a web, hide a body, It would be someone who dances With the law

Some friends open the doors to our exit