Memorial Day 2013

© 2013 joseph ivan long

To farm and feed,
to explore, make music and merry;
to marry and love and make art
and babies;
to play and work and sing from our souls to the starryspangly skies;
to speak our minds from every angle
with the protections guaranteed us on a piece of Paper signed by 18th century gentlemen;
to run free and worship freely and honor the right
of infants to double-octogenarians to raise their fists and voices.

Privileges we enjoy;
privileges that became rights as blood was leaked while others drank tea, ate cake,
and fiddled merry as freedoms of many kinds were fought for in foxholes.

And white-clad uniforms with red crosses scurried amongst the carnage,
bringing some home, 
and others to a bed beneath the earth.

It's one thing to read history.
It's another to make it.
A day a year doesn't seem like much of a return gift.
But today, please accept those two simple words that every child should grow up knowing:

Thank you.