Nov 2021
Lawrence Hall
mhall46184@aol.com
Afghanistan, Graveyard of 19-Year-Olds
Ghosts shriek in the wind from the Hindu Kush
Falling upon the lowlands in despair
Of any reality beyond death
In the blood-sodden sands where sinks all good
Walls, monuments, souls, hopes – all blow away
In the wreckage of long-fallen empires
Their detritus trod upon by tired men
Whose graves will be the howling dust of time
And yet the empire masters will return
And leave fresh offerings, remnants of the young:
A British Enfield, a Moghul’s lost shoe,
A cell phone silent beside the Great Khan’s skull
2012, The Road to Magdalena
mhall46184@aol.com
Afghanistan, Graveyard of 19-Year-Olds
Ghosts shriek in the wind from the Hindu Kush
Falling upon the lowlands in despair
Of any reality beyond death
In the blood-sodden sands where sinks all good
Walls, monuments, souls, hopes – all blow away
In the wreckage of long-fallen empires
Their detritus trod upon by tired men
Whose graves will be the howling dust of time
And yet the empire masters will return
And leave fresh offerings, remnants of the young:
A British Enfield, a Moghul’s lost shoe,
A cell phone silent beside the Great Khan’s skull
2012, The Road to Magdalena
For Remembrance Day / Veterans' Day
First published in THE ROAD TO MAGDALENA, 2012. I am not prescient; anyone who had read a little history (NOT on the InterGossip) would have anticipated how all this would end.
First published in THE ROAD TO MAGDALENA, 2012. I am not prescient; anyone who had read a little history (NOT on the InterGossip) would have anticipated how all this would end.
