For the Silent Statues

(Inspired by Jennifer Compton’s Talking Statues)

Alexandria on a cool July morning,

I hiked towards the Potomac to find

a bar that served beer allegedly  brewed

from Washington’s original recipe.

This Saturday, I meant to explore

the torpedo museum and lunch on King Street,

no expectations except to see construction invade

the home of homes older than the Revolution.

Between new bricks at the end of Oronoco,

broken statues in the Greek style reclined

among benches and public art – arms, legs, torsos,

a head face up in the water, one eye submerged.

Another eye removed from a sculpted face

blinked at me.  I do not speak Greek,

 if I did, I wouldn’t have understood the dialect

of an eye whose never-ending view

was of Washington’s capital and obelisk.

The beer tasted as if brewed before Yorktown