By Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2020

First published  in the online Issue 38 of Current Accounts in October, 2020

They are not collateral damage.

They are our grandmothers and grandfathers,
Our great-aunts and uncles, our fathers and mothers,
Our older sisters and brothers:
Embodiments of generations of who we are.

Our dear friends, our mentors,
Our coaches, our teachers,
Our rabbis, our preachers:
Those who make us who we are.

They are the friends who uplift us,
Neighbors who brighten each day,
Kind souls who show us the way:
Knitters of our fabric of life.

They are the first and last responders,
The doctors, the nurses,
Those who place us in hearses:
Those who save us and mourn our passing.

They are not collateral damage.