Memorials

It is true enough that this is a baseball focused blog, but at times it is good to step away from the game for a look at the bigger reality. As a “child of the 60s” I was of a generation coming into adulthood during  a time when we hoped to have the power to make the painful events of that era merely painful memories…mistakes not to be repeated.

Alas, I suspect there is no such power.

I wrote the poem that follows in 1994 as a reflection on those times, those mistakes, and the regret of the lack of power to change it. The photos are my ID cards from what seemed to be conflicting roles of that era – student and soldier.

The poem is archived in the May 4^th Memorial Collection at Kent State University.

Memorials

                               

I walked across the peaceful lawn                                                   
In Washington, D.C.,
To the monument for the fallen
And touched the names of those who died—

Victims of war,

And the names touched me back.

I walked across the peaceful lawn

In Kent, Ohio,                                                                                   
To the monument for the fallen
And touched the names of those who died—                                  

Victims of war,

And the names touched me back.

Fifty-eight thousand entries carved in the black granite ledger.

Page after cold dark page, the roll of warriors sacrificed,

Cold to my touch — dark, dead.

Which one took my place?

Four entries carved in the black granite ledger.

Four cold  dark pages, the roll of children sacrificed,

Cold to my touch — dark, dead.

Which one took my place?

Herm Card, May 4, 1994