Sold, Defaced or Bulldozed, the Berlin Wall is slowly Vanishing
Peace: War’s Abandoned Grave
From its cache’d 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 hart-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!
* * *
(Excerpt from Moments of the Heart)
"In Moments of the Heart, you are in for a strange and wonderful trip, a most interesting read. Many of the individual pieces are quite unique. This is a writer of wide range and strength. Recommended."
Jim Bennett, KBR Review Team member.
* * *
President John F. Kennedy, right, stands on tower at the U.S. Army's Checkpoint Charlie overlooking the barbed wire wall dividing East and West Berlin, June 26, 1963. In background is East Berlin, Germany. Standing next to Kennedy is West German Chancellor Konrad Adenhauer, back to camera, and standing beside Adenhauer is West Berlin Mayor Willy Brandt, back to camera. (AP Photo)
