May 28, 2009

Bonfire Remembrance 2009

They flood in, small rivers
these families and students
who did not see Bonfire burn like a canopy,
did not hear Bonfire laugh like a harlequin,
did not feel Bonfire, shaking and shuddering.

here in this place that now echoes a memory
quiet hymns hum in the halls of our history.

Now is the night when their open ears, listening
quiet enough for a ten- tear-old voice

to say, “Silence young soldiers, our work is not over here.
Patience my brothers and sisters, still smoldering.

“We are the smoke and the ashes, the wind
that has yet to die down, that will stir through these logs

“Until you and your progeny, you with our history, you in your destiny,
set stones ablaze.”