“Let us Remember!”

Let us pause amidst the picnics, parties, and all the baseball games

Reflecting on those no longer among us, to remember and revere their names.

As we relax and revel in various times and places

Of those who are not amongst us, let us recall their faces.

For unlike other festivals what we call Memorial Day

It is not mainly for merriment and surely not for play.

It is a time for remembrance of what has gone before

For recalling, those who bravely fought in each and every war

So let us pause a moment in our eating and our drinking

Let us ask ourselves, “What might they have been thinking?”

As they heard the sounds of battle and saw the flaming guns

Did they wish that they were elsewhere and not the chosen ones?

As the ferocity of fighting grew ever more intense,

Did they understand their value in any historic sense?

Let us hope they understood and in some way that they knew

The gratitude of the many that would flow to these hallowed few

In olden times many were drafted and others served by their free choices

In the tumult of our parties, let us listen for their voices.

For they are gone, but not forgotten, at least I hope that it is true

They gave everything someone could give for the sake of me and you.

As we begin our summer tanning to lose this winter's pallor,

Let us spare a thought for those whose common virtue was uncommon valor.

So let us pause amidst the picnics, parties, and all the baseball games

Of those who are no longer with us, let us reverently remember their names.