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,
flowing 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
Touching, painful, hopeful.