Poet's Choice

Inside we follow the ranger, hurried

though we are to get to the beach. He tells

of graves lost in the Gulf, the island split

in half when Hurricane Camille hit,

shows us casemates, cannons, the store that sells

souvenirs, tokens of history long buried.

The Daughters of the Confederacy

has placed a plaque here, at the fort's entrance--

each Confederate soldier's name raised hard

in bronze; no names carved for the Native Guards--

2nd Regiment, Union men, black phalanx.

What is monument to their legacy?