Vietnam
Memorial
John
M. Valentine
Give
unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment
of praise for the spirit of heaviness. - Isaiah
A
threnody for the fallen.
A book of names
spoken softly
on the altars of the heart.
A prayer,
even in the rain and wind,
even in the sun.
The bird opens its wings,
like loving arms
wrapped around the living.
The silence stills.
And when we look
in the mirror of the dead
we see the sad and shining
faces,
the whispered names,
the recitation
that stretches from here
to forever,
down the ages,
to the last soldier in the sky.
***
John
M. Valentine is a professor of philosophy at the Savannah
College of Art and Design. His poetry has been published in The
Sewanee Review, The Southern Poetry Review, The
Midwest Quarterly, Snake Nation Review, The Adirondack
Review, and others.
©
John M. Valentine