Graves of the Unknown Dead, National Cemetery, Chattanooga, TN
William Henry Jackson, ca. 1900
such a noble sacrifice the forest made
in its battle with the saw
it deserves no less than a full plantation of stumps
erasers white with chalk
erected in loving forgetfulness
of the blackboard
a stone tossed into still water
always lands in the center of a target
of spreading years
how well we know them then
these unknown dead
A handsome, almost stately poem. This moved me. I don’t think anything has gotten through to me concerning Memorial Day for years before this poem, I’m afraid. Thank you.
It made me shiver a little. It resounds.