Joanne Monte

The earth, its flesh scarred for life,
cut open by one nation,
the land for which we fought,

and fought over; the land
for which we shed our blood, and now
itself, a gaping hole of absence,
given to its one and only use.

Remember, here lies your country,
a fragile bone,

a leg it thought it could stand on, broken;
a cast of names, a monument
dedicated on the library lawn
and elsewhere, on the Mall—

that space we cannot trespass,
but for the death that outlives you.