Krikor N. Der Hohannesian: Elegy

Old Granary, graveyard

of loyalists and revolutionaries,
merchants and mercenaries,
poets and philistines.

Their gravestones, frost-heave skewed
cock deaf ears to the cacophony
of human industry. But listen…

in the wind shadows of ancient elm and maple

and you may hear it…

the wispy, low keening
of founding ghosts
mourning the sins of us,
their promise. Take heed,
take heed they whisper – refuge

from their judgment elusive as grace
for the inattentive, redemption
for the sinner drawing raspy breath
only in the listening …

Boston, Mass.

Krikor Der Hohannesian lives in Medford, MA. He serves as Assistant Treasurer of the New England Poetry Club.