Beth Camp Historical Fiction

Saturday, December 12, 2009

#193 Bravery . . .

Something so simple
as two boys riding a red wagon
down a hill, all the way down.
the sun shines brightly;
the air fills with their cries.
I think to myself:
This is the meaning of life,
no remembering, no forgetting, only this moment,
and they come down the hill again.

Something so simple
as two men riding a tank
down a hill, all the way down,
the sun shines brightly,
the air fills with their cries,
no remembering, no forgetting,
only this moment,
the objective, the target,
the result
plotted on a map,
and they come down the hill again.

Something so simple
as a man walking down a hospital hall,
thinking of red wagons and tanks,
The sun shines brightly,
the air fills with remembered cries,
no remembering, no forgetting,
only this moment.
He continues down the hall, out the door,
back in the world.
This is the meaning of bravery.

Read more of bravery at Sunday Scribblings, this week's prompt.

13 comments:

  1. you nailed it. perfect.

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  2. Anonymous6:42 AM

    Wonderfully written Beth.The moment is so significant. Have a great Sunday.

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  3. Indeed. Bravery, oh, yes!

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  4. And so "simply," you have brought tears to my eyes. This is beautiful.

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  5. Anonymous4:33 PM

    bravery indeed..

    this was wonderful...

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  6. Beautiful - isolated moments that tell the story. Brought tears to my eyes as well.

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  7. Anonymous6:39 PM

    Something so simple... and so profound. Beautiful.
    Kate

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  8. This is truly beautiful and emotive. A wonderful piece of work.

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  9. excellent, moving and thought provoking...

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  10. Bravery is a stark concept, and you've presented it so well. This is marvelous.

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  11. Beautiful! Moving. I really loved this poem!

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