Saturday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

This morning, we've got an original poem from AMERICAblog reader Timothy Beauchamp aka cowboyneok. Tim also blogs at Pink Panthers Blog. In 2001, the Smithsonian included one of Tim's poems in an exhibit on submarines. Today's poem is about Tim's experience passing through the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin.

Enjoy:

Brandenburg Gate

Felt the weight
Of Countless
Souls shifting
Glimmer past
Felt the snare
Of winter
Guns blasting
Summers past
No papers produced
No questions asked
Or bullet torn
Ragged death
Earth’s Foundations shake
Walking through
Brandenburg Gate
The press of souls
Slide me through
an hour glass
Hunger on faces
Blisters on feet
Back forth
Never complete
Not all
Complacent smiles
Smug faces
Casting Three o’clock
Shadows at noon
Soldiers march
Boots crackle
Rhythm precision
From both sides
I saw Jews
Eyes silent
No ears
Mouths gaping and
Pasted Holocaust grins
Earth’s Foundations shake
Walking through
Brandenburg Gate
And I looked back
Waiting for God
Fearing for God
And prayed
For Victoria
To remain sentinel
Witness us glow
Below her chariot
Every facet
Dark sparkle
Stared Ost
And trembled
Earth’s Foundations shake
Walking through
Brandenburg Gate

Thanks for sharing this with us, Tim. Also, in keeping with the theme, here's a picture John took back in December of 1989, right after the Berlin Wall fell:

Now, get threading...