There was a video I wanted to post for today, but I couldn’t track it down. Perhaps I’ll find it in time for Veteran’s Day. Since I couldn’t find it, I’ll repost some past Memorial Day items.
First, a poem Robert Service wrote after World War I:
PILGRIMS
For oh, when the war will be over
Well go and well look for our dead;
Well go when the bees on the clover,
And the plume of the poppy is red:
Well go when the years at its gayest,
When meadows are laughing with flowrs;
And there where the crosses are greyest,
Well seek for the cross that is ours.
For they cry to us: Friends, we are lonely,
A-weary the night and the day;
But come in the blossom-time only,
Come when our graves will be gay:
When daffodils all are a-blowing,
And larks are a-thrilling the skies,
Oh, come with the hearts of you glowing,
And the joy of the Spring in your eyes.
But never, oh, never come sighing,
For ours was the Splendid Release;
And oh, but twas joy in the dying
To know we were winning you Peace!
So come when the valleys are sheening,
And fledged with the promise of grain;
And here where our graves will be greening,
Just smile and be happy again.
And so, when the war will be over,
Well seek for the Wonderful One;
And maiden will look for her lover,
And mother will look for her son;
And there will be end to our grieving,
And gladness will gleam over loss,
As – glory beyond all believing!
We point
to a name on a cross.
And remember, when you think of those who gave their all for their country:
A veteran is someone who, at one point, wrote a blank check made payable to ‘The United States of America ‘ for an amount of ‘up to and including their life.’
