She
(An Autumn Sonnet)
I came to the
Wall on Veterans Day
The morning
raindrops drew the tears
I wrote in my
heart: 11 November 1998, Wednesday
I waited for
more rain, but the gray skies disappeared.
I laid my
offerings at the granite panel
My book of
poetry, "Dear Daddy," and some precious photos
Then she came,
she read; she is her Dad’s Angel
His name is
Richard L. Mayes, she called him her dearest hero.
She hugged me
for she knew her Dad died for me
Saying all her
life has been burning with "whys"
Her Dad never
returned home to his two-month-old baby
The day he was
killed in the foreign skies.
She wrote him a
tearful letter, it was collected at nightfall
Her poised
picture I took, I named it "The
Girl in the Wall."
Linh Duy Vo
(The Boy in the Poem)
3 April 1999 ©