Classic Poem

of this profusion
a robin flies carrying
food on its tongue
and a flag

red white and
blue hangs
motionless. Return
from the sick

wean the mind
again from among
the foliage also of
infection. There

is a brass band at
the monument
and the children
that paraded

the blistering streets
are giving lustily
to the memory
of our war dead.

Remain and listen or
use up the time
perhaps
among the side streets

watching the elms
and rhododendrons the
peonies and
changeless laurels.