Memorial Day 2006 Poem by Bill Grace

It is a decent thing to grieve their loss
Their lives in unexpected Hi Lite upon history's altar
Their was no will to death
We pray their valor was a vision of service.

The young Marine with wire hands haunts me
Stopping in salute before the President's casket
His wire hands so visual a reminder of sacrifice
My mind can not escape that wire hand raised in final salute
It makes me salute the terrible loss - the unconscionable sacrifice -
Of men I have never met closer than a newspaper
And raise my trembling hand in return salute
Of an inadequate acknowledgement of debt.