Memorial Day Reflections Poem by Claude H Oliver II

We gather here
To honor
To elevate
To enshrine
Death
We ask for peace for the departed
Though they were granted everlasting peace
When they were torn from the hells of their existence
We ask – pray – for remembrance
Promptly forgotten in ensuing spats, rushing to war
We thank them for their service
Yet kill those who bring peace
A peace that may have preserved their lives
We struggle for peace
Yet we fight peacemakers
We say they gave full measure
Yet give not same for peace, love, compassion
They died – whom did they send to everlasting peace
The cycle of ignorance continues.


May 25,2015