memorial for a brilliant woman

Monday, November 10, 2008

poem for kristallnacht

Change (for Kristallnacht)

When glass is shattered
its jagged music spreads
concentric from the site.

No sound is more compelling
or absolute, and we become
compromised, made vulnerable:
eyes, bare feet, our belongings
open to injury, violation.

Once begun the act is done,
to be never forgotten. New panes
may look the same but are not.

In dreams she hears the sound
of breaking glass and stirs awake-
How easily things get broken.

(The line “How easily things get broken.” is from the Mass by Leonard
Bernstein)

This is part of my poem-a-day group for November

1 comment:

Sam said...

this is really good and a moving descriptive poem
!