Opede

In Memorial
(Dedicated to the lives and souls and glory of our Republic – World Trade Center 2001)

OPEDE

In silhouette full future stands,
Hollow, rooted deep,
In human grief.

Here lay tomorrow,
Fragile as the unborn soul
Within each person waiting.

Tradition,
Life’s certain repetition,
There in pieces
Forming shadows past,
Ready to build once more
With your spirit Opede –
An ashen bird rising
At dawn to day,
A fragment of love
Sometimes whole,
Chained to final link
present.

(Opede, I was once told, is a town in France destroyed in World War II. The town was later reinhabited and rebuilt by refugees.)