POEMS FORBIDDING SORROW AND TERROR

 

POEMS FORBIDDING SORROW AND TERROR

 

(In honour of Argyles Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who died standing on guard)

 

(For his son, Marcus, at 5)

  

THE GUNS OF OTTAWA*

 

Hardly has the crackle of grim gunfire

subsided around the mute emblem
of courage,  faith,  and the pyrrhic fall
of the young soldier (kilt, rifle, and all,
bloodied by blind jihadist mayhem),
where he stood guard to honour his land’s
heroes who have laid their precious lives---
when these fearless  accidental patriots
rushed unerringly to the sight of blood,
pumped his ebbing heart as one of them
chanted: “Hang on, we love you; trust us,
we love you, your country loves you, God
loves you!” But Cpl. Nathan Cirillo died.
The assassin sneered: “In bullets we trust.”
 

A HERO IS BURIED HERE

 

A year from now, his little Marcus, askance

At five, will know that they buried his father
One rainy autumn day in this field of heroes.
He will scarcely remember that magistrates
Of a grateful land stuttered quiet gratitude
While they looked at this wee lad march tall
Alongside his father’s bier, flag in one hand,
His mother’s clasped in the other, little palms
Still steady, still lusting to clutch kite strings
Flown toward the grey skies bidding goodbye
To his friend and hero, Nathan Cirrilo, Dad
On most days, Sir Brave Argyle Soldier today,
When teary-eyed grand magistrates told him
They will always have this abiding gratitude
And faith that he, too, one day, will be a hero
Who would make the last supreme sacrifice
Of laying down his life like a patriot’s son,
For his Canada, his home and native land.
Sir Argyle Marcus, son of Argyle Cpl. Cirillo.
 

---ALBERT B. CASUGA

Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 28, 2014

 

 

 

 

*Revised from Oct. 26 version.