STEPHEN CRANE'S BADGE

In a time of America
when longing for peace
exposed
as your red badge
worn today as poppies
on your own Joseph's
coat of courage
in an open boat
traveling over the sea
as all cloudy day stars
were deeply etched
all over the map
in innocence
from a language of liberty
but who could now grasp
Nagasaki,
Dachau
the Gulag.