Remembering the two-hour ceasefire during the Civil War in 1864, at Richmond National Battlefield Park in Cold Harbor, Virginia.
As we walk, leaves crackle
and the sacred grounds reveal the last moments
of hidden men in historic trenches frantically dug with cups
plates and even bayonets.
How difficult it must have been, after two hours
of ceasefire, for these men to climb back
into their pits and resume firing at one another.
What futile words had they shared before refilling their guns?
Was there a jokester in the group, making light?
A failed prophet warning, “Thou shalt not kill”?
An insurance salesman offering pro-rated life policies
before death folded too many casualties into blankets of soil.
The battle left the war-torn-land with a tree line
separating life and death, Rorschach clouds
blurring the consciousness of each grieving family
left to interpret their loss. These national forests show
a different sort of beauty that needs to be seen
and remembered, a land resilient and mended
determined to display its scars even as it reshapes
the Jason-Pollock earth painting left behind by war
and invites us to learn that when fighting temporarily ceased,
and Confederate and Union soldiers shared ciggies, outdated
newspapers and cordial conversation, for that brief time,
they were granted permission to stop hating one another.
David and Annie Newcomer reside in Prairie Village, Kansas. David, a navy veteran, has been published in Veterans’ Voices, several professional journals, and photographed and compiled his ship’s cruise book, The USS Winston Westpac, 1966, He supports his wife’s love of poetry by editing, suggesting titles for poems and being the first eyes on her work. Annie’s poetry has appeared in publications in Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, Uruguay and the US. She teaches poetry and playwriting classes at Turning Point, a Center for Hope and Healing, connected to the University of Kansas Medical Center. Annie is also in the Key West Cigar Factory Writers’ Group. The Newcomers also recommend checking out the song “Cold Harbor” by The Outlaws.
