~~BIRDS AND BARBED WIRE~~

I never thought of birds and barbed wire

as symbolic of anything.

I don't like barbed wire

for any reason.

It disturbs me.

While keeping out the bad

it keeps the creatures in

I don't like it

no matter what

the season.

The connotation of the wire

the configuration

the first impression, at

least to me

is

sharp, pain, razors

do not touch

keep out

which is, of course,

what the Wire is all about.

But the Dove, which is the

symbol everywhere, of

Peace

doesn't care for wire either.

And then I saw this

picture of the Mourning Dove

resting among the barbs

and I thought

it was appropriate.

The mourning doves ~

might they be the symbol

of the sadness of the

loss of life

in war time?

Keeping at bay the

horrors, while

keeping all the love

for the dead ones

in?

I took a look again.

No, nothing is kept in

and nothing is kept out ~

those things that are intangible -

Honor and courage and

a mother's head held high

a father's glance upward

to the sky

those things move easily

among the wire

It's just a mourning dove

resting on a wire.

No more, no less.

But still, I asked of God

that he turn his shining countenance

upon the soldier and his

loved ones.........

To them all, I say,

God Bless.

 ©Christina, September 2004.