Paul Joseph Haggerty

West Point, 1991

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Ian Tyson on March 16, 1998:

Here is a poem for the experience and a coach who was becoming a friend. Explanation To fall down and be stuck there on the ground never to get up forever. -this deserves explanation- While I scurry and dodge life in an effort to curl up and die for the time being. Because the sky is blue for a reason. Somehow I am stuck to the Earth instead of skipping off rocks through space. The rains came from somewhere, and there is something behind the winds that blow my hair. -death happens- But not like this, without accident, absent notion of ending. So who will answer this question, of absolute injustice. Give me tangible, a place for blame, an arrow of at least mild direction. Enough of this tornadoed chaos, interwoven with the infinity of the universe and the implausibility of tomorrow. But maybe that's just it, chaos ended by fate or chance (and really what's the difference here). Perhaps there is an answer to this instead: does he know? Can he part the clouds of astonishment? In all of this abruptness something is still of simplicity. -memories- his resurrection through recollection. I will still sit across his desk and we will talk about nothing. I will still find in his eye the recognition of our mischievous manner. And his understanding will be forever understood. Now it is a matter of the spirit, and that much better for it. -A touch of subtlety-

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