War Memorial

for the lost ones

Pale ghosts trapped in stone;

                      thin with granite, black

                      and dry and filled with bone

no longer short-sleeved

                      to bale hay, longing

                      for the soft touch of blond summer

and the thin beer of the fields

                      warm and sky-red in evening,

                      a ring of long chained children

caught in a dark obelisk,strict and cold

                     a hand of parting, faint with flowers,

                     still and unlearning as the years fade.

   

Reviews

[L.Edward]

Enchanting imagery. Powerful stuff.

[Pax]

hAunting like the memories of the past.
fading in the dark
as flowers blooms its sunny bright petals.
moving on.

excellent piece!

[Tree]

Beautiful cold cutting imagery, and I admire the way you fed this to the reader, the format, one cold spoon full at a time. Excellent piece, Leslie.

[An Ordinary Woman]

very nice memorial with much imagery...gets ya right in the middle. nice work!

[Jeremy Baker]

Dark, stark and gravitas aplenty. Excellent word choice and structure. Hard not to feel moved on this anniversary of D Day when reading this wonderful work. Thanks for sharing.

[R J Askew]

Very moving. The memorials are so evocative in many ways and your poem captures that. Maybe they exist as much to remind us to not go down certain routes again. But we do. Your poem is far a more human reminder than a piece of stone though.

[FJ Davis]

The uselessness of war makes useless--indeed, tragically nonexistent--so many human lives.
Pure and powerful poetry, Leslie, most significant in its thrust!