AT THE VETERANS HOSPITAL
Katharyn Howd Machan

In Aphrodite’s deep and fullest hue
I dance again the halls of Ares’ breath
and touch the shadows, celebrating who
instead of what within these walls of death.
My ankles offer golden bells that sing
of light and wonder, as my hands reach out
rich rhythm-echo of bright zills that ring
the names of Love, close whisper to far shout.
How is it War can use a man like stone
to crush another, smiling proud and bold,
then drop him cracked and breaking, left alone
to crumble into dust as he grows old?
Again I whirl, my hot pink veil held high
to every trembling smile, each waking eye.

* * *

"At the Veteran's Hospital" first appeared
in Kaleidoscope in 2002.

Katharyn Howd Machan, aka Zajal as a belly dancer, is a professor in the Writing Department of Ithaca College. Her 25th collection of poems, FLAGS, will appear from
Pudding House Publications in 2007.

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