Ann-Marie Spittle

IF I WERE…

If I were a church

You would scream to the rafters

Against my desecration

If I were a flag
You would stamp out
The flames that blazed around me

If I were a man
You would fight for my rights
Until I was heard

But I am a wall
That carries the names of the fallen
From a war that embarrasses the learned
That humanity could sink so far

But I must be seen, and heard, and respected
For without our darkness
The light is merely a shining orb
That lights the sky
Or an electrical device that allows us to see
The fools we are too late

For it is not the right against the wrong
But the hate against love
In this world of troubled souls
We need to fight against

A reference to the “Gathering of Eagles” at The Vietnam Veterans National Memorial, The Wall, Washington DC: March 17, 2007