At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border

At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border


This is the field where the battle
did not happen,
where the unknown soldier
did not die.
This is the field where grass
joined hands,
where no monument stands,
and the only heroic thing is the sky.


Birds fly here without any sound,
unfolding their wings across the open.
No people killed—or were killed—
on this ground
hallowed by neglect
and an air so tame
that people celebrate it
by forgetting its name.


William Stafford

Posted over on Poetry Foundation

William Stafford, “At the Un-National Monument along the Canadian Border” from The Way It Is: New & Selected Poems