Vietnam Memorial In Rain
Pale umbrellas glide and shimmer
moving slowly side to side
on water sheeting down
broad granite—a thin river
flowing over polished stone
delicate names cling
like caddis husks
Here sorrow passes by
in pair with summer storms
rising up from southern states
cloud after unending cloud
the names of the dead
washed this day in reflections
of the living
Pale umbrellas glide and shimmer
moving slowly side to side
on water sheeting down
broad granite—a thin river
flowing over polished stone
delicate names cling
like caddis husks
Here sorrow passes by
in pair with summer storms
rising up from southern states
cloud after unending cloud
the names of the dead
washed this day in reflections
of the living