Normandy

We successfully took our right-side-steering British car and drove on the 

right side of the road with it! Ambi-drive-strous. 

I am still processing our trip to northern France over Easter. It was a
stunning, resonant experience that really sparked some pondering about
human nature, war, life, love--you know, the usual. And as usual it's hard
to decide what and how to express what we did and what it meant. Poetry
is best for that sort of thing, my professors would say. Okay then.

In Normandy

I kept gasping, "I can't believe I'm seeing this",

twenty times a day

staring stunned at humanity's best and worst

60 years ago

600 years ago

1000 years ago--

death and pain, war and fear

transcendence and creation, hope, real love, and despair.

What we harbor in our collective memory

{history}

tells us who and why we are.

Earth's creation,

capable of despicable cruelty

and sublime transcendent love

sometimes in one place, in one person, in one act

we are destroyers, we are creators, we are the powers of God

bringing light with a word and death with a breath

and meaning to this mystery

as we visit and revisit our story.