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Remembrance: three poems by Douglas J. Lanzo

Updated: Nov 20


Photo of a gravesite with multiple grey headstones, but also with bright colorful flowers of red, white, purple, and yellow and lots of greenery from lush hedges, trees, and a grassy field, image by congerdesign, on Pixabay.






















gravesite, image by congerdesign, on Pixabay




Two Flowers Blowing in the Wind


Dedicated to the victims of October 7th


He was a firefighter

who had saved many

throughout his career;

but on this dreadful day,

he could only listen

to his daughter’s voice

describing how

terrorists were breaking

into their house

and setting it on fire;

how she and her husband

were in their safe room,

standing side by side

as human barricades

against the door

to keep it closed;

how the terrorists

were now trying

to break it down

by brute force,

then with bullets.


The last sound he heard

from the person he loved most

was her startled cry,

before he heard

her body hit the floor.


When the IDF

was finally able

to take him to their house,

he saw his daughter

and her husband

lying side by side,

their bodies bullet-ridden.


One year later,

on the anniversary

of October 7th,

he says he dreams of peace—

of a future when

their land will once again

flow with milk and honey

and flowers of joy

will once again bloom

in oases amidst desert.


For now, he can see

his precious daughter

and her husband

smiling side by side—

whenever he beholds

two flowers of great beauty,

blowing in the wind…



*



Salvation as He Swept Away


In memory of Micah Drye of Asheville, North Carolina


The words that her son cried out

on their flooded roof that day,

made Micah her sweet hero,

before he was swept away.

As their home was torn apart,

cracked in two, straight through the roof,

she saw her son’s salvation,

as God shared with her the proof.


Her son cried out for Jesus

as the house ripped him away—

from his mom and grandparents—

on that dark and wrenching day…


He dreamt of superheroes

that he’d be on Halloween,

nights before a hurricane

became infamous Helene.

His mother sensed him rescued

even as he tore away,

raised by God’s arms to heaven,

in compassion, as he prayed.




*



Legends of Concord


Stepping back centuries

into the homes and paths

of literary legends—

Louisa May Alcott,

Ralph Waldo Emerson, and

Henry David Thoreau—

I beheld the pageantry

of costumes, plays and stories,

that came to festive life

inside the wooden walls

of Alcott’s Orchard House,

a home for four sisters and

a stop on the road

to freedom for slaves “aboard”

the Underground Railroad,

where independent thought,

freedom, human dignity,

and suffrage for women,

were cherished and enshrined.


Witnessing in autumn

the transcendental beauty

of a tranquil kettle lake

carved by ancient glaciers,

I entered the tiny home

of Thoreau upon its banks—

an Abolitionist, whose

Civil Disobedience

inspired Mahatma Gandhi

and Martin Luther King, Jr.

to defy injustice

in enduring peaceful ways.


Retracing the footsteps

of patriots whose blood

helped to water the tree of

liberty in our nation,

I walked along lanterned roads

ridden by Paul Revere,

who spoiled British plans

to take Concord by surprise

and seize its munitions,

gazing at farmer’s fields

where Captain Issac Davis—

a minuteman gunsmith

of high training standards and

even greater courage—

died leading his men

in the storied first battle

of our Revolution.


Warmed by gold-embered rays

of autumn’s fading sun,

I stood before the simple grave

of Louisa May Alcott —

a writer, Civil War nurse,

Abolitionist,

suffragist and pioneer—

buried next to her sisters,

her mother and her father.


The rough marble grave

was adorned by colorful pens,

a flag, and some letters.

Kneeling down to read one,

I was struck by what it said:


“Thank you for contributing

to make me what I became.”


Only then did I grasp

the full greatness and import

of the lives of these heroes—

true patriots of Concord.











An award-winning poet and novelist, 436 of Douglas J. Lanzo’s poems have found homes in

69 literary journals and 8 anthologies across the US, Canada, Caribbean, England, Wales, Austria, Mauritius, India, Japan and Australia. Doug’s debut novel, The Year of the Bear, won the Ames 2023 Best YA Book of the Year while his second book, I Have Lived, won Best Novella of 2024 at the 21st American Book Fest Awards. Doug resides in Chevy Chase, Maryland with his wife and twin sons and fellow internationally published poets, enjoying nature, tennis, basketball, snorkeling, and chess. His author’s website is located at: www.douglaslanzo.com.






November 2024 issue






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1 Comment


cmbharris
cmbharris
Nov 17

Touching, painful, hopeful.

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