Memorial Day Poem by Barry Middleton

to place a flower on a grave
was then a heartfelt memorial
so it was in May of 1865
in Charleston, South Carolina
when 10,000 freed slaves
came to honor the fallen
the Martyrs of the Race Course
where 257 Union POWs died
some say our Memorial Day
started right then and there

620,000 died in the Civil War
in 1868 there was a proclamation
but there is still some dispute
as to when and where it began
but there is no dispute on this
that over a million have died
each day another soldier falls
so this is the day to feel the loss
freedom is a joyful celebration
but let us not omit the invocation