Saturday, January 14, 2012

Mt. Hertzl

Friday morning, we went to Mt. Herzel, the Israeli military cemetery. We heard from some of our soldiers who spoke about friends and brothers-in-arms that were killed in the line of duty. It was a very emotional day. The following was a poem that was written after this experience.


Mt. Hertzl

The godly man cries
Out in mourning
As the boy descends.
His mother stifles laughter (a smile)
Remembering her baby’s eyes
Blue
With flecks of gold and copper
They could always pierce her heart
Now cleaved in two.
The father holds her hand
And shudders
as he grasps that hand,
That tie to life and hope and the world outside his grief-stricken mind,
Squeezing tighter each passing moment.
He will never again
Hold his only son
Who it seemed like only yesterday,
As they played catch on freshly-cut grass,
Would grow up to be a doctor
A baseball player
An astronaut
Or a stock-trader
Who would fulfill his dreams
And Change the world.
The trees bow to the fallen soldier
As if to say:
“I know your sacrifice”
The boughs sway
In the rain-swept wind
Alongside his parents’
Quivering lips
As if to say:
“We feel your pain”

And somewhere else,
Not too close,
Not too far,
A seed begins
To grow

By: Cameron Seitzman '15

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