A 1944 photo of my father and mother
creased with stains and in a broken frame
is knocked off its stand whenever the breeze
gets it dander up  

What could they have been thinking in that
field at his cousin’s farm on Old Cairo Road
when the Battle of the Bulge killed so many
the army drafted older men with families?                                   

                                   His rag tail uniform
and her face fresh like Rita Hayworth
will make me go over to close the window
and dust the glass with a mismatched sock