In Memoriam: A Plea for the Soldiers
©2016 Susan Noyes Anderson
image by Andrew Pons on Unsplash
Remember them with pride, not shame.
Don’t taint their sacrifice with blame.
When evil fought to have its way,
young soldiers marched into the fray
and offered lives that they held dear.
The principles, to them, were clear.
Defending freedom was their cause.
This motive ought not give us pause.
Cast no aspersions; valor speaks
more loudly than implied critiques
appeasing, for self-serving ends,
both former foes and fickle friends.
The heavens weep when men wage war,
but there are things worth fighting for…
worth dying for, if needs must be.
Don’t stain the price of liberty.
Salute our troops, who paid the cost:
brave souls and true, forever lost.
∞§∞
“In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.”
Jose Narosky
“Lest I keep my complacent way, I must remember somewhere out there
a person died for me today. As long as there must be war,
I ask and I must answer, was I worth dying for?”
Eleanor Roosevelt
“Your silent tents of green,
We deck with fragrant flowers.
Yours has the suffering been;
The memory shall be ours.”
Henry Wadworth Longfellow
“The patriot’s blood is the seed of freedom’s tree.”
Thomas Campbell
Tags: freedom, honor, Memorial Day, patriotism, soldiers, troops, war