On the courthouse lawn, old grey men
pass a bottle they hide in the mouth
of a cannon dragged from the field
of some long forgotten skirmish.
They swig and swap lies about wars
and women lost, sons whose names
it is now hard to remember, forget
for a time their pain and loss, until
they snooze on benches beneath
chestnut oaks that themselves were
once young, but now missing limbs,
holes cement-filled, whitewashed.
On windy days, the metal lanyard
of the chain-fall striking the
flagpole sounds like a church bell
calling home the lost and the broken.
Town Square
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- Posts: 2688
- Joined: 03 Jun 2016, 21:03
Re: Town Square
Darn good poem. I love the image in the closing stanza...I can hear the church bell in the chain striking the flagpole. Beautiful, clear visual.
On windy days, the chain striking
the flagpole sounds like a church bell
calling home the lost and the broken.
On windy days, the chain striking
the flagpole sounds like a church bell
calling home the lost and the broken.
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- Posts: 2154
- Joined: 18 Apr 2005, 04:57
Re: Town Square
Hi Bob,
In accord with Bob re the resonant visual & auditory imagery of the finale.
Moreover, for me, it is the symbolic vanitas of the 3rd:
"they snooze on benches beneath
chestnut oaks that themselves were
once young, but now missing limbs,
holes cement-filled, whitewashed."
Time-weary & world-worn - the theme framed in the square of the town
Michael (MV)
In accord with Bob re the resonant visual & auditory imagery of the finale.
Moreover, for me, it is the symbolic vanitas of the 3rd:
"they snooze on benches beneath
chestnut oaks that themselves were
once young, but now missing limbs,
holes cement-filled, whitewashed."
Time-weary & world-worn - the theme framed in the square of the town
Michael (MV)