Ayn Rand and the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial

 Sunday morning, after going to church in Caen, 

We stopped by the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. 

 Busloads of cruise-ship passengers combined with airport style security screening at the visitor center,

 Made me determined not to be moved by the place.

 I blamed Ayn Rand and her Fountainhead,

(Incidentally one of my favorite books)

For influencing the brutalist, rocket-agey memorial, 

 Soviet-style statuary,

 And pre-psychedelic mosaics on the chapel ceiling, 

   Until I read the words on the chapel altar, 

"I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish," 

And felt ashamed for my triviality and overwhelmed by the sacrifice of the

9,387 soldiers buried here above the sea. 

We walked through the headstones,

Read a few names aloud,

And posed by the sister statues of peace and victory,

America with her eagle,

And France with her noble Rooster.