Sadly remembering
the 50th Anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination, I thought it might
be appropriate to share my poem about JFK’s June 26, 1963 visit to Berlin. The
‘cursed’ Wall finally came down on November 11, 1989.
* * *
Peace: War’s
Abandoned Grave
From its
cachéd
acorn womb
the seedling sprouts through
pungent moss,
soon greened by a rambunctious
spring’s exuberance.
The Westwind, taking pity, laughs
and heaves
and trembles off the would-be
devourer of tender leaves.
The
sapling climbs toward the tranquil summer sky,
shading the meadow by the river,
until the Eastwind, cold and
blustery,
defeats the balmy climes
and heralds in this city’s
soon-to-come heart-breaking times.
Branches
at half-mast, the tree holds silent vigil
against the rapings by lust-driven
Ural-hordes.
Its meadow barren, flowers
vanquished under iron treads,
the oak, denuded in the
smoke-veiled morn’,
breathes acrid mist from the River
Spree, forlorn.
Amber
tears drip from the tree’s strafed bark
as the proud city, quartered by
its raucous victors,
writhes in shredded ruin, a
graveyard of the living dead.
A people torn apart, despaired,
as brother now must fear the
brother whom war had spared.
A saw’s
rasping bite takes hold;
the last tree topples at the cusp
of dawn.
The oak’s green planks strain
vainly toward freedom
from deep within the cursed Wall.
A fire-blackened church accuses, a
grim reminder to them all.
The
pendulum of time reverses.
Survivors hail their former foe.
To these living dead, abandoning
their graves of war,
as if he were a citizen, but
keener,
a young world leader avows peace with:
“Ich bin ein Berliner!”
* * *
From
“Moments of the Heart, A Book of Poems and Short Prose”
No comments:
Post a Comment