Sunday, November 12, 2017

FOR US ALL ... IN HONOR...







FOR US ALL ... IN HONOR... 

From the films of sweet GI Joes handing out Hershey bars -
slogging through tides and finally opening the gates of Hell 
Onward through swirling years of foreign names 
memorized at school desks -that swelling sense that 
the only wars fought were those good wars against
bad guys -and then sorry - so very sorry for that
mushroom cloud that lit the sky and memory when
more brothers were called in a lottery with no purchase
necessary ... and the some who marched to defend and the others who stayed to defend - and all believed in the United States of America - one nation - though shakily indivisible... and back to films and guys with vacant eyes - and strange untold stories and not enough heroes welcomes but plenty of body-bags and counts on nightly news ... and marches there and here and - assassinations and soaring oratory - and hope and despair and change and then over... for a little while .. until here we are again...after towers fell and the new "normal" has become old hat - and still the Joes, and now Janes too, march off - now with pride though too often prompted by practicality - and the films are made in Hollywood - but no one's handing out Hershey bars. Now in this beginning gloaming of it all - ....a heroes salute for those who go so others can stay and write and pray to a Universe for a peace that will need no arms of steel to embrace us all. In honor of all...
One nation, indivisible with liberty and justice for ALL.
May we never forget the freedoms and ideals that all marched and fought, and bled and died and cried for....
We are ONE.

15 comments:

  1. You pay homage to a parade which is a grain of the American character, rubbed raw and wounded in times past and present. For those who bore arms and to those who work to free the world of arms. Nicely done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well said: Veterans are men and women who at one point in their lives wrote a blank cheque to 'Queen and Country' for everything up to and including their own lives. Less we forget.

    ReplyDelete
  3. good wars against bad guys..how quickly that can go south. wars have no good ending for so many people.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Perhaps (at one time) we really believed wars were good guys against bad, and I am sure in (a few?) instances they were and are. Mostly not though, greed of some kind or other.
    I am really torn when I see the world today where nations turn on their own or their neighbours. How can we sit back and do nothing? How can we not defend the innocents, defend good and what is right?
    Sadly I don't have an answer for we are what we are...
    Anna

    ReplyDelete
  5. "May we never forget the freedoms and ideals that all marched and fought, and bled and died and cried for....
    We are ONE."...May we never.

    ReplyDelete
  6. 'heroes salute for those who go so others can stay and write and pray to a Universe for a peace that will need no arms of steel to embrace us all. In honor of all...' sigh.. I can't describe how moved i m after reading this.. so beautiful.. so poignant.. sigh...

    ReplyDelete
  7. You have said it well, Pearl, the long, warring saga, the home of the brave, the endless fresh cheeked young people heading out. We have learned nothing of peace in the long song of war.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I feel a desperation in your call for unity... there are so much suffering in war, and can just make the killing stop...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Truth and heartbreak in each line....and still I wish for those GIs to never fight again....my wish for peace...we are one.

    ReplyDelete
  10. War divides us into tiny bits of horror. We are blessed by those who fight, but the divide keeps making weapons. I pray peace will come.

    ReplyDelete
  11. "Liberty and justice for ALL" - seems we are moving away from this. Those who have fought for the "freedoms and ideals" in the past, and even died for them, might turn over in their graves ...... I do hope there is a time when "we are ONE" again. Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  12. An impactful piece - well constructed and powerfully rendered.

    ReplyDelete
  13. How pertinent this is as our families are expected to give all for their country but sadly our countries don't always give all to to its citizens. Larger nations peacekeeping efforts often often result in misery for the citizens of that country and for the families of servicemen back home...and the hate continues.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I think we all long for a day when our brothers and sisters in arms are not required or compelled to make the sacrifices that we honor. I hear you.

    ReplyDelete