We set aside one day each year
To honor those who fell
And their late comrades, lives well lived
We think of them as well
A poignant day for those who stood
Beside them in the breach
And solemnly, who buried them
At sea, on land, and beach.
They sought not subjugation, no,
Nor glory nor conquest
But to lay low the oppressors
And raise up the oppressed.
For us, they left their parents
Their children and their wives
Liberty was their calling, and
For that, they gave their lives
There're those who do not understand
A soldier's sacrifice
Still, they enjoy their freedom, though
They never paid the price
Yet, many more have known the pain
Their loved ones' lives, too brief
They hold the mortgage of our Rights
With pride throughout their grief
Fidelity to freedom's cause
That duty's why they fought
Our duty's to remember them
And regard what they bought
Names known and unknown, carved in stone
On battlefields, dispersed
But in the Heaven's cherished book
Their names are listed first
So sing a laud of gratitude
The honor they deserve
Devotion, their full measure giv'n
Our freedom to preserve
On this, our day of remembrance
This truth we must sustain
As long as we keep liberty
They'll not have died in vain
C. Truax, USCG
YOU ARE READING
Memorial Day
PoetryThis is a poem I wrote a few years ago for Memorial Day and what it means to me.
