Sunday, November 20, 2016

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.

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