<Note>
I wrote the following at work today. It's tone might sound a bit
"dated", but that's deliberate, and hopefully not incomprehensibly
extreme. I hope that for those who don't feel like they quite "get
it" on a first read, you will find it worth the smidgeon of effort it
might take to understand the archaic structure. It's written to
reflect certain aspects of 9/11 and some of the various historical
events to unfold in the United States in the ensuing few years.
Thanks for your patience. :-)
<End Note>



"A Requiem for the Indivisible"
by William D. Shroyer of Knoxville, Tennessee

Smolders the corpse of Liberty
as swirls fume up and down the bay.
Her pyre smoke shields - darkens - our eyes.
Her ashes - white - all skin cloaks gray.

Standing tall upon Her wreckage,
gathered by our senses - bound -
surveying all the ardent breakage...
smote - our soles - upon Her ground.

Faith cannot spark Her murdered toil.
Prayer cannot stave the vultures at bay.
Hope cannot keep above the soil
what from Hope is unlearned away.

For so long to weep beneath the clouds
that blind go eyes whence comes the sun...
once one's flag becomes one's shroud,
Her murderer has once - for all - won.


(C)2004 William D. Shroyer