The Friday Poem: Through the Generations

Through the Generations by Mary Susan Gast

It was during that

Berserker era of

Mutually Assured Destruction,

That my daughter began to

Walk

Upon the earth.

Stumbling in on

Overly adult

Conversations,

Burdened

With translations

Of the annihilation

Assured by mega tonnage

Into stunned and broken human

Terms,

She slept without nightmares,

Confident that her parents,

On high alert,

Would keep her and all the world

Safe.

Her child now turns to me,

Wearing her face,

Possessed of her intensity,

Animated by her energy,

Heir to the family lore

Of confrontation,

And asks,

With a 4-year-old’s

Sweetness and directness,

“Grandma,

Can we stop a war together

Sometime?”

Now that you’ve read the poem, here is a commentary by Benicia Patch Poetry Maestro Jeff Burkhart:

Mary Susan Gast is a friend of mine and frequent contributor to "the Friday Poem.”  During this season of Lent and Easter with all it means to Christians everywhere,  I think it is fitting and proper to examine forgiveness. Today’s poem, “Through the Generations” looks at man’s persistence to find new ways to kill each other, through the eyes of a child. Overhearing adults worry over the concept of “Mutually Assured Destruction,” a little girl poses a question to her grandmother. She asks her if they could stop a war together sometime. It’s a great image. The oldest and youngest of us banding together in order to save the rest of the world from themselves. I wish it were that easy. Maybe it is. We’ll never know until we try. I guess all we can do this Easter season is to wish our two unlikely saviors and the world, luck and best wishes.

I will leave you with a poem of my own.

At What Cost Freedom

Young men fight for freedom die

Their spirits float into the sky

Families mourn and mothers cry

The doubters ask the reason why

The leaders send the young ones go

To stand and fight another foe

To make the world a better place

God forgive the human race

Jeff Burkhart

primetimerhymes.com

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