On Behalf of a Grateful Nation
by Lenora Rain-Lee Good

         For Dave, and all the Daddies he buried

guns roar
         flares explode
angry, frightened men
        bark clear crisp orders

reality returns

         I face a young
uniformed Lieutenant
         smartly dressed,
ramrod proper.
         He speaks
as he hands me
         the Flag,

"On behalf of a
         grateful nation … "

nothing else
         need be said—
his tears
         speak most
eloquently



Previously published in the author's collection,
Confessions of a Peace Monger, 1998.



 

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