"Bear Witness"

[lagilman]

Years pass, decades,
The revising measure of a lifetime
Entire; I stand here still,
Not stone not metal not fire but flesh
To bear the weight to not fail nor fall some greater trust
Rise into the skies and ne'er come down again.



© 2012, Laura Anne Gilman

Comments

commentary

[lagilman]

Multiple layers of word-use in this one, as seemed appropriate, eleven years later, when so much has, in fact, been layered on top of that morning.

This poem does not mourn; to mourn too long bears no honor to the lost or the living. To live with the memory, to remember and carry forward, to honor in the doing, to move on and live rather than relive, to rise rather than to fall...

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

Now that I'm done sticking my foot in my mouth over in the war room, *blush*, I will also say /here/ that this reminded me, beautifully, of High Flight. I think I assumed it was a John Gillespie Magee Jr piece, in fact.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

That is lovely.

[elsceetaria.livejournal.com]

Simply gorgeous