Etchings in Stone

Roberta S. Dohse

March 16, 2022

They used to tell something

Of the ones lying there,

Not just dates, not just mother or father.

Rather,

Taken in the glory of his youth by a fever

Founder of the mill

A teller of stories

Philanthropist, healer

Banker, pastor, priest.

But look at the long lines, the white crosses

Running with the undulating hills, 

stretching out of sight.

So many lost in far places,

Lost in their final fight.

So much grief at their memory

No matter whether friend or foe

Maybe a tree or rose to mark their spot

So they are not lost again in this sea of souls.

We try to move on, but I wonder if time 

Really is a wheel turning in on itself,

Inexorably swinging back to erase

All the steps forward, the hopes in the stars,

All the illusions of comfort and peace.

Now the fear and the terror return 

And more hills wait 

For long lines of white crosses,

Too many to see through the tears in my eyes.

Roberta Shellum Dohse hails primarily from California. She is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley. After a stint on a farm in northern Minnesota and time in Oregon, she moved to Texas in 1980. She attended law school at the University of Houston and has practiced law in Corpus Christi, Texas since 1997. A former flight instructor and college professor, Roberta has been published in Corpus Christi Writers Anthology series (2018-2021), Lamar University’s Odes and Elegies, Eco-Poetry from the Texas Gulf Coast (November 2020), Voices de la Luna, Austin International Poetry Festival Anthology, and Poetry at Round Top.