By Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2020    

First published as the Featured Writer in 2021 Winter Issue of WestWard Quarterly

After touring Antietam’s hallowed battleground, 
where tens of thousands of Civil War soldiers 
were slain or wounded one fateful day, 
my 11-year old twins sons and I
came upon Antietam’s Private Soldier Monument, 
a towering, 44-foot marble statue 
of a federal army soldier 
affectionately dubbed “Old Simon”. 
 
As we gazed upon the majestic statue
and read Old Simon’s engraving:
“Not for themselves but for their country
September 17, 1862,”
a tiny brown finch emerged out of nowhere 
and gently alighted upon the soldier’s cap.  
As I raced to take a picture of the beauty before me,
the bird began to sing, 

its lyrical voice weaving together 
strands of sadness, gratitude and hope:
a ballad from heaven, leaving me breathless.