Take me to the river
Wash me in the water. Let me dream
The dream of life renewed
And then I fail instead . . .
Fallen from high distance
Scattered among far fields,
Encase me now in asphalt
And sluice me down with flame
Anneal the world of loss with pain
And buildings built of dread.
Stop up the river of all hearts
And disregard the dead.
DAVID C. WARD is an historian at the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. A small collection of his poetry, called Internal Difference, was published by Lintott/Carcanet in 2011.