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COMMENTARY
(Mike Allen)
Requiem for Paris (Mike Allen)

Requiem for Paris
by James Coburn

In Paris, crossing the Seine
On a bridge of stone,
Footsteps beckon our arrival.
The Seine reflects
A cityscape lit by windows
Framing candle light spinning
Fervent creation of new life.
Something wicked wants to pass.
Abandoning life for a lie,
A war on the age of reason.
Come what may, but I will cross,
The blood stained eyes of terror
Shot by jackals to make war.
Lap up blood for a dead idea,
Fermenting silence.
I will pass with the martyrs
Of liberty.
So dawns the light lifting
Souls to the heavens
Crossing the Seine where lovers
Held hands for centuries
To deliver this light of day
Overcome chaotic darkness
With beauty shining
Without fear of hollow men
Whose bullets
Scatter like rats
Amid self-imploding bombs,
Knowing nothing of gates unlocked.
Transcendence
Grows in cracks of stone
From wind born seeds tending
Their flock of humanity.
There is only the river flowing
Engaging the fire to ruin.


(Editor’s Note: To submit poetry, prose, short stories, art or other creative writing for Sunday Funday, please write to editorial@nondoc.com. Other submissions for commentaries or reporting can be sent there as well. NonDoc accepts submissions from all over the world and seeks to provide a platform for a diverse group of voices. As always, Letters to the Editors can be submitted by emailing letters@nondoc.com. )


Previous editions of Sunday Funday

Sunday Funday 11/15: Lady and the app

Sunday Funday 11/8: Pyramids and riverbanks

Sunday Funday 11/1: Bacon to be Born Again

Sunday Funday 10/25: ‘Words’ for the King of the Fall 

Sunday Funday 10/18: We died happy, offline

Sunday Funday 10/11: ‘Seeing life in all its folly’

Sunday Funday 10/4: Land and time not in my backyard

Sunday Funday 9/27: New definitions, baseball and Short Order Poems

Sunday Funday 9/20: With others ‘losing,’ Trump says, ‘Hadouken!’

Sunday Funday 9/13: Kanye West and a man who smells

Introducing Sunday Funday from Mike Allen

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Mike Allen is a graphic designer, painter, printer and tailor. He has a fine art degree from the University of Oklahoma.
James Coburn is an Oklahoma poet, photographer and journalist. His first book of poetry, "Words of Rain," was a 2015 finalist for the Oklahoma Book Awards. His work has appeared numerous anthologies. A long­time journalist for The Edmond Sun, Coburn is a 2013 inductee of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame.