Subject: another eulogy for Wellstone
I figure the guy deserves someone to write a poem
about him--hopefully there is
an actual good poet out there doing this, but
I haven't heard of one yet, so I took a stab at it:
=====
They were wrong, we now know, when they told us
That there were no longer any politicians worth
crying for.
We learned this, as we usually do, too late,
Last Friday when we learned of the plane crash
in Eveleth
(Alav ha shalom--peace be upon him)
He was not Lowell's prince who came down from
his tower,
Not Whitman's captain-my-captain or his fallen
Western star.
He was not a president, nor was he a prophet,
nor a saint,
Nor a revolutionary, nor a Nobel Laureate. He
was
None of these things. Only the senior Senator
of Minnesota,
A man of courage in a time when such men
Were sorely needed, and sorely lacking. A man
whose voice we could not afford to lose.
(Zai-kher tzaddik livrakhan--May the memory of the righteous be for a blessing.)
There will be no riderless horse at the funeral
this time,
And no eternal flame at the grave site.
His likeness will not be stamped onto silver
coins,
Or carved into stern marble monuments.
Only an empty green bus, some makeshift memorials,
Boxes of signs and bumper stickers, and
10,000 grieving volunteers. Nevertheless,
We will remember. Perhaps we will remember better
this way.
And we will do what we can.
(Oseh shalom bimeromav, hu yaaseh shalom aleinu,
ve al kol Yisraeil, veimeru:
amein--May the One who causes peace to reign
in the high heavens, let peace
descend on us, on all Israel, and all the world,
and let us say: Amen.)
Katherine Hawkins