Ann Arbor, Michigan, July 27, 1989

They stood alone
in the gray drizzle,
determined in their own way
their picket signs crying out against the latest act of callousness.

When a truck approached
with its hated cargo
the small band of women surrounded the cab,
pressing their bodies hard against the grille.
Still the man behind the wheel inched forward
and pushed his way through,
having his own job to do.

It was as if a millstone had ground another turn.
And whether the next turn brought ruin
or relief,
I felt an ageless sorrow would still be gathering

As long as souls labored as horses
bent to some unbending toil,
or gasped like helpless fish
before bait and hook.

Randy K. Schwartz has had poems in the California Quarterly, The Jerusalem Times, and many other periodicals. He is a UM Rackham graduate and teaches mathematics at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, MI.