Today's Choice

by Tucker Lieberman

Thou holiest and great unspeaking head
Bewrinkled in the wisdom of thy age!
Thou infant grand and tender, in thy stage
Of solemn death: thy severed nerves we dread,
Thy knife-splashed throat (and thou wert barely bred!),
Thy unjust end that stirs our kind to rage.
Now drift in ageless sleep, thou endless sage.
May women worship thee in every bed.
Choose life! Our sacred mission has been done.
Some girls are shamed; their silent wards live on.
Triumphant pigeons fly like peaceful kings.
Let's put away death's photograph and run
For lunch hour, savoring the crystal dawn
Of calamari and the snap of wings.