After the Turks
wiped out her village
and she marched 
through Dier-ez-Zor,
along the banks
of the Euphrates,
 
Rose crossed the ocean
from Lebanon
to Boston Harbor
 
drinking glass after glass
of water, salting the sea
with her tears—
 
without her crying,
fish could not swim,
and the moon
could not float
on the waves.
 
When she gave birth
to her children,
she named each one
for a flower
that bloomed in the desert
without sand or rain,
skeletons of love
without bones or blame.