The Sunflower: a symbol of survival and hope for peace
Survivor 1992
Witness to the holocaust
a lone survivor rises up
above a burnt-out field of stubble
where yesteryear a host of suns
worshipped their life-giving source.
Last seed of a generation
cut down in its prime.
A timid witness to the glory
that aspired to the sun,
standing straight and slender,
oblivious of the stubble.
Then and Now (March 2022)
Devastation, catastrophe, holocaust
War seems eternal,
humankind unable
or unwilling to learn
to live in peace.
Nature though does not give up.
Witness to this devastation
a lone survivor rises up
above a burnt-out field of stubble
where yesteryear a host of suns
worshipped their life-giving source.
How many of this generation
have been cut down in their prime?
Hope remains in this one timid witness
of the glory that aspired to the sun,
standing straight and slender,
rising up above the stubble.
Erika Bizzarri 
I love this! The sunflower is the Kansas state flower. Please let this tragedy end and the sunflowers again flourish. Happy Easter!.
James II
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Erika The sunflowers always captured my imagination. Hope. Defiance. Prickly beauty. I seem to recall that on one of his digs in a field of sunflowers Claudio found a single Etruscan gold earring… 🙏❤️
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I love this Erika. So sad that some cannot just live, and let live in peace.
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Writing poetry as a distant witness in a time of war is an immensely difficult task, so full of pitfalls, and your poem here, Erika, is so accomplished. I have read it and listened to your reading several times. You find your way through all the turmoil of emotions we feel with sure footed restraint and awareness. And then you have shown us hope – recurrent, resilient, and justified. We need that. Thank you.
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When I read this, the French expression « Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose » (“The more things change, the more they stay the same”) popped into my head. But I need to fight the cynicism of that. I admire your more optimistic assessment: “Nature though does not give up.” John Looker’s eloquent comment, however, says it all.
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