Flash-fire of the final rays
Flames upon the walls
As if the battle rages again.
Intense light deep-shadows
The seams between boulder and boulder
And the pits in these irregular rocks -
Until the burning source recedes,
Leaving the wall ancient again:
Softer, flatter,
Bluing in the dusk.
A pale moon, transparent as a shroud,
Rises above it,
Bleaching the battlement to bone
Under its luminous light.
A flashing moment of time blending present and past in a sharp, crystal image that harks back to an intensely dramatic and significant event in history. The poem is a jewel in which hue and texture move softly from brilliant sundown to blue dusk, from rage of battle to blue calm of white moonlight on the bones of those whose spirits still rest there. Very significant poem, beautifully crafted. It brings out the poetic significance of event, place, and history.
Sunset upon the martyrs: with its attack, Mexico made a colossal foolishness and paid its sin through the Revolution. However these suggestive lines make the feeling of past things very well.
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
Nicely painted time lapse image. It reminds me of how I used to experience the Gettysburg battlefield. Layered.