Kirmen Uribe
Translated from the Basque by Elizabeth Macklin

It was late, by then the horses were sleeping,
standing up, the dark of the forest reflecting in their eyes.
The tablecloth was still on the table,
the breadcrumbs, the food was getting cold.
Those who were pregnant had already given birth,
were out pushing their baby buggies.
The teacher erased the formula on the blackboard.
The dancers took off their slippers
displaying their wounded toes.
The street cleaners gathered up
the garbage the festivals left.
After that we had no desire to keep singing.

It was late, that day was almost another day.
The winning made no sense.
No one admitted defeat.

The peace came late.
from the journal THE THREEPENNY REVIEW 
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“It Came Late” (Berandu iritsi zen) is a pacifist poem. Changes in society take too long to happen: there are some people who see the way forward, and thanks to them society advances, although perhaps too late for others. The consequences of violence are always irreparable. We have to learn from what has happened and keep memory alive, so that injustices do not happen again.

Kirmen Uribe on "It Came Late"
Color photograph of Janice Mirikitani at a formal reading
In Memoriam: Janice Mirikitani

"Janice Mirikitani, a vibrant former poet laureate of San Francisco who spent time as a child in an internment camp for people of Japanese ancestry during World War II, then worked most of her life aiding people in need, died on July 29 in a hospital in San Francisco." 

via THE NEW YORK TIMES
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