A piece of your soul
Is stolen with each photograph taken
Are right
Reflecting back over the years,
Looking at her tortured face
In that static image,
I wonder. I hope not, for my sake.
Hard to contemplate so many stolen moments
Pieces of others’ lives captured
By my lenses, the films’ emulsion
Now sitting in dust covered albums, yellowed envelopes and crooked frames
She stood hunched over, frozen
Jaw clenched and hands knitted,
Holding or hugging herself
Against her chill that July.
Paralyzed by her private pain
Writ large there in public, on the Mall
Countless others had and have since
Faced their own demons
In that monument’s polished black marble
(I have seen them)
For twenty minutes or a little less
I watched her pilgrimage, her prayer
A stranger motionless that stopped me
That held my attention
And the camera’s gaze before me.
Me a voyeur, an intruder, an unwelcome confidant.
She stood too near the names
To turn away;
But her feet and legs
Couldn’t carry her slight frame forward
To touch the past
The walkway before her still,
I imagine, never to be breached.
=====
edited September 9, 2015
The Wall – v6
(editing original)
edited July 27, 2015
The Wall – v5
(editing original)
edited March 23, 2015
The Wall – v4
(editing originalagain)
edited November 11, 2014
The Wall – v3
edited May 28, 2014
The Wall – v2
posted February 14, 2004
The Wall
June 22, 2001
===
edited May 27,
2014
“In the Rain,
in that Place – v3
edited May 26,
2014
“In the Rain,
in that Place – v2”
Memorial Day
November 11,
2010
“In the Rain,
in that Place”
Veteran’s Day
2010
and
remembering being
at the Vietnam
Memorial
Vietnam
Veterans Memorial Fund
during the 10th
anniversary
Veteran’s Day
1992
&
edited May 27,
2014
Left at the
Wall – v3
Edited May 26,
2014
Left at the
Wall – v2
Memorial Day
August 5, 2006
18:05
Left at the
Wall
&
All of my
Veteran’s Day poems
&
All of my
Memorial Day poems
All of my
poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001,
2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014,
2015, 2016. All rights reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com) for
usage. See all 42,390+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
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