Liberty Island |
By: Roger Hansford |
She cried by the Stars and Stripes;
I’d been a secret most of her life
and all of mine.
Beside us: the billowing bay . . . ocean.
Between us: an Ellis Island lineage.
Waiting on line - immigrants - we
dialled our uncle. My second chat
in 25 years.
Subject: terrorists at Heathrow
the route I’d just flown.
From the pedestal: skyline
of skylines
with ghosts of towers turning
towards me. Great-grandfathers
had spun the globe for this
silhouette of promise.
With her outstretching arm
was an existence
made possible, made known?
Gift from France, oxygreen
like a British penny.
Liberty, the Illuminator.
This poem appeared in South 36: A Poetry Magazine from the Southern Counties, October 2007. Totton: Hobbs the Printers, Ltd. ISSN 0959-1133. Poem Commended in the Waterside Arts Festival Poetry Competition 2008. |