Memorial Day

Over a million of them,
dead. Their young bodies and lives
sacrificed, now invisibly nourishing
the life we lead, invisible
until we give them life and remembrance,
a day, a pause before the parade,
a moment of thanks and awe
that the preciousness of our every day
was worth such a cost
to someone we never knew.

About this poem.

For those of us in the states, this poem likely needs no “about”. At least when we stop from the parades, the day off at the lake, and the cookouts, to think about it. It is a day to remember the men and women who have died in the service of our nation. To be, in yet another amazing way, humble and grateful.

The picture was taken yesterday, just outside my house in West Pawlet.

Tom