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 Writing.Com Item ID: #1107651
 Title:  November 23, 1963
 Item Type: Static Item
 Brief:  PRELIM - Round 1 entry
 Last Modified: 05-19-2006 @ 4:03pm
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November 23, 1963

Silence
had decended upon
the city like the first
snowfall, the
November air
far colder than
the temperature
would suggest.

Elementary school
children were not told
of the death of the President.
I had to learn it from older boys
whose greatest joy had been to
tease naive little sisters.
I did not believe, but
banter did not follow.
We walked in silence.

At Main Street I could hear
the newsboys calling out
headlines like they did
in the movies, not real life.
Once home, I had to believe.
Television and radio knew
nothing else but "assassination,"
"President Kennedy dead" and the
grief and sorrow of the nation.

Camelot was lost to America
that awful day and 'twas years
before I found my way back
to Neverland and Wonderland.