Two detours the one now
daily and deliberate through
interfacing granite monoliths
where a large grainy black-and-
white photograph of a foot soldier
heads a litany of local names
Weary frightened-looking unshaven
he could be me sixty years ago
he and the others never safe home
I by exemption home safe
Another war was an awakening:
conscientious objectors deserters
resisters wanting help from
their religious traditions
that was slow coming
My detour now to remind me
of that unaware earlier bypass
the deferment that dimmed conscience
kept me slow learning