 | The Cavalier daily Monday, November 24, 1969 |  |
15 November 1969
By David Ward
ON THAT DAY, SOME PEOPLE CAME TO WASHINGTON, D.C. TO WALK THROUGH
FOR A FEW HOURS. THEN MOST OF THEM WENT HOME.
I
I see a fresh, white flower
In the cold-pinched hand of a child,
Who presses its broken stalk
Into the black mud...
...to make it grow again.
In the cold-pinched hand of a child,
Who presses its broken stalk
Into the black mud...
...to make it grow again.
But, between the severed stem
And the dark earth,
No love is lost, and
All love is lost.
The flower falls.
The child cries.
Cheated of an instant resurrection.
And the dark earth,
No love is lost, and
All love is lost.
The flower falls.
The child cries.
Cheated of an instant resurrection.
"Under
No circumstances
Will I be affected
Whatever
by
it."
No circumstances
Will I be affected
Whatever
by
it."
II
Behind barred gates,
In a side street two minutes from anywhere:
A young, armed man, dressed as a part-time soldier,
Stands by a ready truck.
In his left eyelid
A nerve is twitching.
Why?
In a side street two minutes from anywhere:
A young, armed man, dressed as a part-time soldier,
Stands by a ready truck.
In his left eyelid
A nerve is twitching.
Why?
III
The sallow woman from Wisconsin
Wrapped in and shuffling in sneakers
Says that,
"When they opened the casket
It was someone else's boy!
Not my grandson, Peter.
Nobody changes that much
Even in war-time.
The Army did apologize
But,
still,
It was hard on all of us,
Especially Mary.
She's got to live with it, you see.
They sent the real Peter back
Ten days later.
You couldn't mistake those freckles
Even though most of his face was gone.
They told us at the Funeral Home
The lid would have to be closed
To spare our feelings...
I couldn't help thinking of Freddie.
He's still in school, but,
If the war keeps up.
They'll get him too..."
Wrapped in and shuffling in sneakers
Says that,
"When they opened the casket
It was someone else's boy!
Not my grandson, Peter.
Nobody changes that much
Even in war-time.
The Army did apologize
But,
still,
It was hard on all of us,
Especially Mary.
She's got to live with it, you see.
They sent the real Peter back
Ten days later.
You couldn't mistake those freckles
Even though most of his face was gone.
They told us at the Funeral Home
The lid would have to be closed
To spare our feelings...
I couldn't help thinking of Freddie.
He's still in school, but,
If the war keeps up.
They'll get him too..."
IV
We shall need guns.
Guns to protect the Capitol.
Guns to protect ourselves.
Guns to protect the people
From each other and, most of all,
From themselves.
Things could get out of hand
Anything might happen
When
those
Savage hordes of snarling nuns, effete, long-haired farmers,
Unwashed doctors, hippie dentists,
Robing bands of tripping lawyers,
Dirty, pointy-headed bank clerks, and
Bearded ministers, freaky priests
Degenerate psuedo-nurses, housewives hooked on pot,
Brainwashed deserters, decadent policemen
Atheistic teachers, and all the filthy
Crypto-communistic dupes of the
International Peace Conspiracy
Who
Have
Been
Led astray by the gutless, anarchistic
Refugees from Woodstock
Descend
on
us
to
ask
for
peace.
Under no circumstances
Will we be affected
Whatever
By them.
Guns to protect the Capitol.
Guns to protect ourselves.
Guns to protect the people
From each other and, most of all,
From themselves.
Things could get out of hand
Anything might happen
When
those
Savage hordes of snarling nuns, effete, long-haired farmers,
Unwashed doctors, hippie dentists,
Robing bands of tripping lawyers,
Dirty, pointy-headed bank clerks, and
Bearded ministers, freaky priests
Degenerate psuedo-nurses, housewives hooked on pot,
Brainwashed deserters, decadent policemen
Atheistic teachers, and all the filthy
Crypto-communistic dupes of the
International Peace Conspiracy
Who
Have
Been
Led astray by the gutless, anarchistic
Refugees from Woodstock
Descend
on
us
to
ask
for
peace.
Under no circumstances
Will we be affected
Whatever
By them.
V
After the sinister canisters;
The thumping and the throbbing,
The cells, upon examination,
Are four feet by six feet:
And five can be fitted in each
With a little hearty pushing,
Th for ten hours,
Ten feet wade in unexplained foul water
Ten bruised hands beat the bars.
The thumping and the throbbing,
The cells, upon examination,
Are four feet by six feet:
And five can be fitted in each
With a little hearty pushing,
Th for ten hours,
Ten feet wade in unexplained foul water
Ten bruised hands beat the bars.
"We have only a skeleton staff tonight.
Your phone call will have to wait."
Your phone call will have to wait."
VI
I see banners
The color of fresh blood
Or the wounds of a nation;
And flapping, flaunting flags,
Crimson, scarlet and vermilion
Under a black kite
Near a white house: circled
With empty buses.
The color of fresh blood
Or the wounds of a nation;
And flapping, flaunting flags,
Crimson, scarlet and vermilion
Under a black kite
Near a white house: circled
With empty buses.
I taste wine
Poured by a smiling stranger
Who sings of hands, taken and held.
And I sing? Humanity sings, peace sings, joy sings
Through a forest of forked fingers
And screens of wind-whipped blankets.
Poured by a smiling stranger
Who sings of hands, taken and held.
And I sing? Humanity sings, peace sings, joy sings
Through a forest of forked fingers
And screens of wind-whipped blankets.
There is love there:
Very much love there,
Enough love to embrace
The helicopter and the perched-pigeon troops.
A policeman smiles; whispering "Peace, now."
Very much love there,
Enough love to embrace
The helicopter and the perched-pigeon troops.
A policeman smiles; whispering "Peace, now."
When will thy ever learn?
"Under no circumstances
Will I be affected
Whatever
by
it."
Will I be affected
Whatever
by
it."
Peace.
| The Cavalier daily Monday, November 24, 1969 | |