This is a day to remember our forefathers, our aunts, our uncles, fathers, mothers, and brothers that have gone before, but while that is true, in addition to Veteran's day, maybe because many of those male family members were veterans, my thoughts go to a more specific debt of remembrance....
Memorial Day
Cold chunks of pitted concrete,
Resting now, in pieces, on Norman hill,
Overlooking deserted waters,
Roiling, they've long ago had their fill,
Of rusting hulks of menace,
And the ghosts of those that will,
Live forever in our memories,
Live forever on our quill.
For us, they charged to hostile land,
Thousands dying on that terrible beach,
Lead undercutting the will to stand,
Life's blood red the color of hallowed sand.
As long as we remember,
And remember, e'er their sake, to teach,
All that happened, there, on that day, so dark,
And countless others that dawned, morose,
These ghosts will live forever,
Live forever by their own mark.
In the hearts of a grateful country,
And the hearts that, even yet, hold them close.
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Comments: 20
This is incredible. I have no words... tears, but no words.
This is featured in the group, Poets, New and Old.
with thanks,
Marilyn
In the furor over Iraq we sometimes lose sight of those who went before and were welcomed as saviors and liberators by those being crushed under the Nazi yoke...
This is a fitting tribute.
Thanks for posting to Gather Writing Essentials. This article has been included with it's link in Humor Monday Update 5/26.
Well written. You're pretty damn good at poetry.
This post is spotlighted in the Monday edition of Today On Gather.
Congratulations!
Thank you, Connie. It holds a lot of meaning for me,.... and my family.
WOnderful words, excellent thoughts. Thanks for sharing with us and reminding us what the holiday is truly about.