Given Space: Washington DC Study Trip with Chapman University

In the space between choices
gestates a momentary pregnancy of silence and solitude.

In the space between gravestones at Arlington
lies the sacrifice of mothers who question moral certainty.

In the space between gradients in the mountain of despair
is the oratory of sculpted hope.

In the space between one end of the Kennedy Center and the other, you can lay down the Washington Monument, or not.  
Perhaps instead, you hear the echoes of the sitar or a choir of teenage promise.

In the space between the surface of the stone and the depth in which it is chiseled
is the graveled wisdom of voices stolen from us.

In the space above the Vietnam Memorial and below the Heavens
are barefooted memories of fluttering fireflies and vanished childhoods.

In the space between pews where we raise our eyes in askance
resounds the recitation of the rosary and the kaddish.

In the space between the final word and the ending punctuation
is the last exhalation of our beloved dead.

In the space between you and I
is etched a history, a faith story, a love story.