I feel at risk of over-posting, but if I don't post this, now, it must wait a year.
Try To Remember
How many knew, that day,
That we had buried her,
Untenderly, the way
The violated lady
Once asked to seek
Merciful obscurity?
Oh, she had been lovely.
She dared all who would see
To hope that life again
Might be as young, as new,
As the hearts of boys when
Their secret dreams are green.
So bountiful, and she
Was big and easy, too;
And because she was free
Drew so many to her side.
Her head was held so high:
Around her, only the sea,
Above her, only the sky.
They ever failed who sought
To take her; so many sons
To keep her free had fought
Two centuries of wars.
Evil came stealthily
That morning, like the heart
That festers with envy.
Who spied the swooping blow
That ravished utterly,
Swift and obscene to know
What was untouchable?
Bickering, strutting through
Corridors of power,
Disposed for the eye: Who
That day was by her side-
That world men once called “new”?
--from "Touched By Its Rays"