Within These Pages

With every page turned I discover traces of myself Behind the tattered covers Of old family diaries In the words of Homer Within the songs of America Amongst the GI’s, Hoplites, and Senators, This is the masculine I despise this cloak of anonymity In the shadow of blackness That veils my hubris A negative casting The horror of another Nightmarish vision In long forgotten and dusty texts Against the backdrop of time I looked into the battled hardened stare Meeting the gaze as an equal Whilst judgments eyes Exhausted and proud standing Voicing a praise unheard Allowed me to stands with my fathers Unashamed For that moment I was with them Now turning to depart A chorus of voices calls my name This body of men and kings Times guardians Chiseled each of granite Strong willed Broad shouldered Defiantly proud Beckons my eyes to pass over those likenesses of Caesars Legions, American Revolutionaries, and Everyday men Fixed within those pages I stand Eye to eye and man to man With myself I am one of them Brazen and strong