Linda Ori - ! Memorial

How perfectly they stand aligned
In geometric form designed
To please the eye, but not the mind -
So many side by side;

White crosses standing in a row
Some are strangers, some we know
And every year the numbers grow -
A sad memorial;

Each with a story of its own
A life, a death, a soul unknown
Struck down before the boy was grown -
A life cut short, unlived;

'Protect your country' was the call
And in the end each gave his all
But did this nation watch them fall?
On foreign soil they lay;

Surrounded by their friends and foes
The grisly details no one knows
On family faces sorrow shows -
And still the scene replays;

Shall peace forever be a dream?
These tortured souls forever scream
And does God hear their cries, it seems
They fall upon deaf ears;

And so the annual ritual plays
While 'neath the ground each body lays
In every town's Memorial Day
We honor those we've lost;

And though we give them due respect
The seeds of war shall yet infect
Unless we choose to interject
A prayer for all mankind;

That war and killing now must end
Our thoughts of love must now transcend
Let each man call each man his friend..........
On this Memorial Day.

5/24/2008

Linda Ori

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/memorial-7/