historical marker at Dekalb County Courthouse,
Decatur, GA in honor of Gen. Joseph Wheeler
General Hardee’s orders were brief:
Break Sherman’s supply line and return
to the defense of Atlanta.
We rode hard the eight miles to Decatur,
surprising MacPherson’s men;
boys, mostly, they ran screaming and cursing
into the dark. One of the wagoners was shot
in the face. I drew close and looked at his great
wound, the perfect silent O of his mouth.
He was a boy. I remember thinking
of my own son, and how futile this gesture of defiance
even though we had won. So this is loss, I said,
looking into the dark wound of his face, this is loss
whispering itself into the world. And behind me
on the horizon, brighter than the hunter’s moon,
Atlanta burned.
Originally published in Cider Press Review, Volume 1.
