it’s morning on July’s Fourth
we set out
on our ritual walk
where Washington’s untried army
once heroically crossed
high on this hillside
thirteen concrete wedges
frame the base
of a strangely empty flagpole
where I always expect
to witness thirteen-stars
stones remember the nameless
of Trenton’s battles
— none of whom died of wounds
but rather frostbite, exposure
— worsened by December itself
tombstones strongly incised
with resonant dates:
“1777” ... “1778” ...
each stone dedicated
to one militant colony:
so different,
forever joined
here above
our significant river
a lone man bicycles
into this flagless shrine
—dismounting in reverence—
sits upon a particular mossy stone
which may reveal his colony
in this twenty-first century
we turn, return
toward the original Crossing site
back at the grave-site
liberty’s pilgrim remains rapt
— a stone among stones
Carolyn Foote Edelmann lived in New Hope from 1984 into 1987. Her protest poetry served Dump the Pump regarding the endangered Delaware River. Recent publications include Cool Women, Volume VII, a group she co-founded, U.S. 1 Poetry Worksheets. and U.S. 1 Newspaper’s Fiction Issue, Princeton. Her earlier Gatherings was launched aboard the QEII; Between the Dark and Daylight earned press praise of publication.
Poet’s Corner is curated by Bucks County Poet Laureate Emeritus Tom Mallouk and supported by a grant to the Bucks County Herald Foundation made possible by Marv and Dee Ann Woodall.
To submit a poem for consideration, email it to Heraldpoetscorner@gmail.com. If the poem has been previously published, please say where it first appeared.
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