Memorial without a grave

The memorial at night, marble statue

surrounded by marble, reached

by marble steps: stand and stare

at the brooding man needing

but denied sleep. Artificial light

softens the outline of stone

blurring the implied sadness.

Look to one side

at four score and seven

look to the other

at better angels of our natures

look to the man in the middle

framed by the words

the man meditating on the hate

the anger the rage the fury

that spent itself in fields of blood

blood required to learn

the bitter lesson, what it always

requires to learn the bitter lesson

a memorial without a grave

a memorial with only a memory

Photograph by Peter Griffin via Public Domain Pictures. Used with permission.