Long lines

Watching a flag unfold

Refold, and

Fold again

Uniformed men with black muffs

Covering thin ears

Alive to the frost

re-living ritual

 

Do they think --

As they watch the

(huddled family)

Grieving a solitary loss --

What this ground has cost?

600 acres of graves

400,000 strong

How many were born here?

How many immigrants

Immortally memorialized

Naturalized by blood

Now one with soil

They made their home.

 

Did we need this

To know

We immigrants

Travelers in time and space --

Building homes

Building dreams

Building love -- that

All things worth having

Are bought in blood?