I thought of Jennie Wade
when I watched city workers
operate heavy equipment
to remove an equestrian statue
of Robert E. Lee.
She would have lived past twenty
if Lee did not direct his army
into Pennsylvania.
Think of all the bread dough
she would have kneaded.
Jennie might have married
and had her own children
instead of helping her sister Georgia Anna
take care of a new born.
Jennie was first buried in the back yard
then the cemetery at the German Reform Church
and at last moved to Evergreen Cemetery
about a year after Lincoln gave his famous address.
copyright © 2023 Kenneth P. Gurney
postscript
Umflop 