The Statue of Liberty

The second time I saw you,
I looked on your crown from the porthole
of a plane, but I saw you first in a picture book
from the American Library that rolled
into our Black Forest town once a month.
This time I was on top of the world,
a bride with a new name, a new country,
a town in Tennessee.

I stood on the deck of the Bremen
returning home when I saw you a third time,
your hand-held beacon, Declaration of Independence,
documenting that I belonged. I remember
the freedom I felt breathing in American air,
the craving for a cheeseburger.

On my 65th birthday I visited my daughter
who lived in a Brooklyn brownstone.
She hired a helicopter for an air tour of the city,
the Empire State Building, St. Patrick’s cathedral,
the Chrysler Building, following
the Hudson to the harbor

and for the fourth time I looked at you,
now belonging to me fully, the sonnet carved
into your pedestal my life lived
with all promises fulfilled. Lady Liberty,
you stood stoic, unchanged, a reminder
that time for you stands still.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Image Credit: Portrait of the Statue of Liberty [Brandon Mowinkel/Unsplash].

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Helga Kidder

Helga Kidder lives in the hills of Tennessee. She was awarded an MFA from Vermont College. Co-founder of the Chattanooga Writers Guild, she leads one of its poetry groups. Her poems have been published in Slipstream, Moebius, Poetry South and many others as well as in the anthology Carrying the Branch: Poets in Search of Peace. She has three poetry collections: Wild Plums, Luckier than the Stars, and Blackberry Winter.

Latest posts by Helga Kidder (see all)

• The Statue of Liberty by Helga Kidder - January 6, 2023
• Stars Shine on Everyone – Helga Kidder - December 15, 2019
• Dance of the Forgotten – by Helga Kidder - November 25, 2019