My father served
29 years in the US Navy.
The service served him well.
The rigid structure,
the clear hierarchy,
the orders to be obeyed —
was he attracted to these?
See now, all around his grave,
here in this military cemetery,
the regimental regularity
of the identical headstones
is pleasing, even stately.
Yet my eye soon goes
to the lyrical branches
of a lopsided tree,
one side blown bare
by the Pacific's
prevailing off-shore winds,
a different kind of order.
Photo of Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, San Diego, California.
Photo and prayer 2014 by Danny N. Schweers
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