Ross: Yellow Star

By George Szirtes
The eye is drawn to that single yellow star
that no wise man will follow.
The hunched men in caps, the grimacing woman
her eyes screwed up, cheeks hollow.

We look and look again until we burn a hole
in the paper. We strive to learn
from their resignation but it is beyond us.
We let them burn.

Source: Poetry (February 2008)