A Sonnet for the Boston Marathon (2014)

Last two years my marathon poems have been humorous, with references to Uta Pippig and Rosie Ruiz. This year humor didn't seem appropriate. Perhaps next year, but until then I offer you:

 

A Sonnet for the Boston Marathon (2014)

 

When the time of Paul Revere’s Ride draws near

And the light of patriots of old dawns

We honor them with games and marathons

Memories of days and of ideals held dear

 

Yet now we strain to think beyond the year

Past a moment scarred by hatred and bombs

That took Martin, Krystle, Lingzi and Sean

Left others wounded, a city in fear

 

Even as innocents crumple and bleed

That light still glimmers as ever before

Piercing the dark of our “peril and need”

 

A fire that burns bright with love and deed

The word that shall echo for evermore

And strength that must never fail to lead