War Child Lament 2020

by Mary Ann Crowe


Fallen leaves return to their roots–– a Chinese Proverb

Alpine waters flow beside time-worn cobblestones
where I was born ten miles from Dachau
                        in the U.S. War Zone
Sacrifices from my American families, our unlikely
patchwork of allies divided by North and South
united to free the medieval city of my birth ––
amid ruins of plagues and war over centuries ––
banishing that latest world-wide contagion
even the cobblestones freed from harrowing sounds
no more staccato from the boots of marching Nazis
Yet today we hear America's remaining World War II
refugees and Holocaust survivors report increased
                           levels of PTSD

Some believe that death will return our souls
to a place we were before we were born
But I'll pray my soul shall not return to the small
Bavarian town up the Isar River, home to no friends
nor familial roots, where a forced labor camp once
supported Dachau's gruesome machinations
Let my seeds and last leaves nourish peace I've found
here with streets of old stone and mountain fed streams
of the native Tewa White Shell water that sustained
                                 Santa Fe
            No, my soul need not boomerang back
            across the Atlantic––
            all my beloved America, again
            our plagued U.S. war zone now


[Note: "Santa Fe" translates as "Holy Faith"]

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"War Child Lament 2020" was first published as a poetry prize winner in the Pasatiempo 2020 Writing contest, 12 days before the January 6th Insurrection.

Mary Ann Crowe moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico to live beside an apricot tree and recuperate from debilitating illness. Poems appear in Flying South, Stories That Need To Be Told 2022, Sin Fronteras /Writers Without Borders, Miriam's Well, and Trickster Literary Journal. As a visual artist-activist-writer, her essays, art installations and public art projects have addressed gender, the environment, war and gun violence. Barnard College graduate born in Munich, Santa Fe is her 30th move between Germany, New York, Chicago, and Puerto Rico.