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Out of the drizzle and the fog they come
boys dressed up like soldiers though they’re more
like the hands that wind around a clock. Out
of the Scotch mist’s chilly smoke and the cry
of gulls they stop and click and turn their heels
like the turning of a wheel taking off
and putting on their bayonets, changing
the guard though I feel no more protected
than when I hadn’t seen them, yesterday’s
teenagers becoming men with their wives
at home, girlfriends or boyfriends—Who knows? Love
brings us all together and makes us want
to kiss. It’s that damned bullet stops the rest.
The tomb of the unknown is just ahead.


Edinburgh Castle, June 30, 2009

Edinburgh Castle

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