'Ophelia and the Guard'

The third in our current series of poems prompted by the TY Images in Poetry module is based on the famous photograph by Lee Miller of an SS guard in the canal at Dachau from 1945. Read more in Newsweek about Miller here. Click here for a larger image.


'Ophelia and the Guard' by Kate Boyd Crotty


Just outside the frame,
Soldiers gaze at their man,
The pain and tragedy that hit them all.
But for this man, no more.

As if he is sleeping peacefully,
He lies as Ophelia once did;
Her love for Hamlet dying with her
And his, for his love dies with him.

The almost stillness engulfs all
As they look on his lifeless body.
A cold gust blows causing ripples in the water
And the grass sways gently.

Almost silence is all around.
All that can be heard is the gentle lapping
Of the water against his arm.

For him this is peace. Freedom.