Maybe those who
believe
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.
It is 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
Their private moments
frozen in time
She stood hunched
over, in suspended animation
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.
I became a voyeur, an
intruder,
Her 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 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 are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,
2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015. All rights
reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss for usage.
See all 38,60+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com
Poetry Where You Live.
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