river bridge
to Rosemary Menzies in memoriam on reading her ‘The old Bridge (Mostar)’; her poem is posted online at: http://www.most.ba/ob/menzies.aspx
The original ‘Old Bridge’ was destroyed in the war in former Yugoslavia in shelling by the Croatian army and rebuilt in the style and using much of the technology of the original. Rosemary so wished to bind the lives broken in war back together in her time in Bosnia and speak out their hurt:
you wished
to be a strong
bridge to
carry the women
the children
the men heads
ringing with
fear out of
the way
of it
the onward
grinding of hard
edges
war
that is never
paid off
in blood
however much
the burst
sack of
body spills
you were
an old evening
for a while
a calm to
them a
better time
remembered
leaning
stand
and know
they pass
over you
still pause
now to fly
a kite snaking
up and over
the cool of
the lowered
sun on
fluted
waters
under
your full
moon arc.
you
did
well.
8 – 10 april 2014
Panmure
Photo of the rebuilt ‘Old Bridge’:
