What, except the country, grew
Like a flag? What, except the flag,
Grew with the country? Was it
A romance, a family romance?
The sun is shining on the parade ground and on the burial
ground.
Must it be so? Yes.
It must. No, it need not.
Need I do it? No,
You need not. Yes,
You must.
Kathleen Spivack
LEAVING BEHIND
leaving behind
the curved path to the ocean
leaving the summer buzz
of the cicadas
leaving the sudden opening, surprise,
of the horizon, the sea,
the white boats,
the smallness of them, faraway;
leaving the heat
leaving my body, my brown legs,
leaving the way
we cut the water
and how the sun, that laser,
was the focus
toward which we turned:
