Song for Robert MacNamara

by Christine Rodgers

Author's Note : This poem is drawn from my recent experience of seeing the film “The Fog of War.”

I have just

one impulse

watching this film.

I want to

place my hand

under your heart

and lift

some of the weight

away – pressing

the seed of peace

far, far down.  For

I sense it makes

no difference

what honors

you have won,

what great deeds

you have achieved,

how many people

you have fed.

There is still

that one man

burning beneath

your window – the

smoke of his death

rising up – his cry to

end all war still

ringing in your ears.

He will always be

there – a kind of dark

angel – urging you

toward life – toward

the light of God – pulling

you out of the fog.

Christine Rodgers is an actor and writer living in San Francisco, California, who considers both acting and writing to be forms of giving witness and of praying. She is a regular contributor to The Witness , and may be reached by email at tallpilgrim12@hotmail.com .