Kids of the Homefront Army: Janus

There is one front and one battle where everyone in the United States—every man, woman, and child—is in action and will be privileged to remain in action throughout this war. That front is right here at home, in our daily lives and in our daily tasks. Here at home everyone will have the privilege of making whatever self-denial is necessary, not only to supply our fighting men, but to keep the economic structure of our country fortified and secure during the war and after the war.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s radio broadcast to the nation, April 28, 1942

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Janus

Arnold

JANUS

This year we studied mythology
--Greek and Roman gods.
One of them was Janus, god of transition.

Transition means to change.

Poor Janus--looking backward,
looking forward. Always moving--
never in the here and now.

I'm like Janus.

I see my father as he was
before he left to fight the war.
Soon, I'll watch him turn civilian.

How he is today is what is unknown.

When he left I was six inches shorter.
Just a kid. Now I'm practically a man.
He won't know my voice when I speak.

I used to hate girls, but not anymore.

Dad knew me as a child, he'll know
me as an adult. But what about now?
Does Dad feel like Janus, too?

I wonder if he's as scared as I am?

When we meet we'll have to turn
our heads away from the past, turn
from the future, and look at us as we are.

Will we like what we see?

© Diane Mayr, all rights reserved.

2 comments:

I'm Jet . . . said...: Every war is like that.

Powerful poem, D.; April 6, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Diane Mayr said...: If only women ruled the world...; April 6, 2012 at 5:19 PM