What He Knew and Did Not Know

It was the
Rappahannock
I was told

He must have thrown
His dollar
Across that
For it
To reach the other side

The Potomac
Is too wide

And I wonder
Was there someone
To retrieve it
Or find it
On one’s own
To pocket it
And so have a small fortune
To spend
In the markets
Of Fredericksburg

And he
Must have been long-suffering
For all that happened
After

And eloquent
For situations in which
Most
Would not have been articulate
Except in a metaphor
A message
Object lesson
In leaving

Or perhaps
Remaining in a tent
At Valley Forge
Achilles-like at
Troy
Never
To appear
But dream instead
Of spring
Or even winter
In Virginia
In a home
Beside the fire

And yet
He prayed
We understand
And showed himself
And
Showed himself
A leader
Through it all

And after
When he must have
Shook his head
When offered coronation
Of all things

At least
He wasn’t there
For apotheosis
Above the Capitol building

A new nation
Perhaps he understand
Must
Try to get it right
And overdo it
Underdo it
In the process

The nation
Is a process
He must have understood
And had great messages
And then retiring
The
Not-once
And not a future king

But servant
To the land
And finally a farm
Martha
Tragically some slaves
The awful legacy
He terribly
Misunderstood
And misapplied the
Morals of a better code
Than he
Possessed
Inside himself

Maybe he knew
He’d be a bad king
Relying
On the flesh of others
Ridiculously
Criminally
Owned

And otherwise
And maybe we say
Otherwise
He did all right
And then stepped back
While others
Might
March
Forward

C L Couch

(on the birthday of G Washington)


Photo by Alex Korolkoff on Unsplash