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DON'T LET THE LIGHT GO OUT

by George Hoerner

an arm here

a face there

a horse head

neighing for help

a screaming mother

holding her

dead infant

the unattached arm

holding a candle

so all can see

and one dangling light

refusing to be

put out

a broken sword

still held by

a dead body

1937

Guernica

and today

still no one

pays attention

12/04/2007

Author's Note: 70 years from the year of my birth and nothing changes.

Posted on 12/06/2007
Copyright © 2024 George Hoerner

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Mary Frances Spencer on 12/07/07 at 12:49 AM

Wow...this poem paints the universal endless picture of war. Well done! MFS

Posted by Alisa Js on 01/13/08 at 05:52 AM

shocking! and all too true.. thanks for sharing.. aloha to you from this side of the Pacific blue.. alisa ;-)

Posted by Mara Meade on 02/08/08 at 08:22 PM

Brutal. Will we ever learn? I thik of the Cain and Abel and the questions, "Am I my Brother's Keeper?" This is an excellent observation, unfortunately, but good food for thought.

Posted by Marjorie Anne Reagan on 04/10/08 at 10:45 PM

I recognize a real cowboy when I see one. Amazing.....and true.

Posted by Philip F De Pinto on 12/18/12 at 01:00 PM

I was fortunate to have seen Guernica before it was shipped back to Spain. I fear, George, attention is not one of our best suits, thus we are doomed to the ever spanning repetition. I know one thing, George, if the lights go out, we will, or at least I will be able to make my way in the world, via that wonderful Virgilian light of yours.

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