Unknown

Commissioned by Urban Arias, Arlington, VA.
Music by Shawn Okpebholo, composer, conductor, teacher.
Poem by Marcus Amaker, Poet Laureate of Charleston, SC

Unknown Poems

by Marcus Amaker, Poet Laureate of Charleston, SC

1.
As the morning rises
with the clean air of summer, my mind is clouded
in smoke.

Anxiety is ammunition for a duty
that haunts
my dreams:

A war that will
take me away from home, a departure
that digs deep
within the battlefields
of my soul.

I am one
of many warriors willing to
fight for a country
that promises freedom,

a country
that I am proud to call
home.

2.
Home is a hollow space when world-wide hostility takes ahold of its habitat.

Beneath this roof
are memories
of life without combat,

a breath before bloodshed, a love untouched by fear.

I am haunted
more than I am happy.

Reading letters
loaded with the tragedies
of war,
stories about future legends, soon-to-be ghosts who fought with honor,

and lost their lives without losing their faith.

3.
If death has a sound, then I am now its echo.

Silence will soon pass through me

and I will remember that I was made
to have an ending.

And war,
with its infinite reverence, also has boundary.

I am far
from my family, but I will soon be home.

4.
With honor, I march.

21 steps

in time
for the timeless spirits of soldiers.

With service, I march.

21 seconds
in rhythm
for the breathless voices of the decorated
and departed.

With commitment, I march.

24 hours
in tempo
to guard the ghosts who gave their lives for our country

so that we can safely call this land
our home.

5.
Layers of remembrance hover over us like clouds.

When it rains,
we are wrapped
in sorrow
because we can’t escape the memory of
fallen heroes.

How many storms have gone unnoticed?

How many more

downpours deserve our attention?

Our homes
and hearts
are enlivened
by the recognition of generations who are gone,

but never forgotten.