Dallas

I wasn't there. I couldn't have been, yet
Something about it makes me want to weep.
I don't remember where I was, or set
A minute as memorial to keep
That memory alive. I did not live
The agony or anguish of that day
Nor did I know the hope that he could give;
Therefore I did not feel it torn away.
I think I understand what, in his time,
He did, and what it meant, in concrete terms,
But I did not experience the crime
Nor feel potential turn to food for worms.
He was a symbol; symbols, when they fall,
Can only be known partly, if at all.