ONE HUNDRED YEARS ON
To those of you who could not go to war
but stayed at home to fight the fight
in factories and lonely homes,
condemned to wait, and mourn your sons,
your fathers, husbands, brothers too.
We applaud you.
To those of you who boldly went
and not so boldly, too, but still you went,
to rot alive in rat infested trench.
You fought the fear, withstood the pain,
returning home as strangers in a land forever changed.
We thank you.
To those of you who gave your all,
who sacrificed the precious life you had,
whose final days were terror filled,
brave enough to show your dread, yet braver still
to hide it, too, for others' sake.
We salute you.
To all of you who lived your days
one hundred years before our given time,
whose love, whose youth, whose limbs whose lives
were spent in blood, whose skies were full of darkness,
whose hope extinguished lay, yet rose anew.
We owe you.
A perfect contribution to the collective memory of our history.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. I love how it pays tribute to all those involved, including the less headline-worthy roles away from the front line.
ReplyDeleteVery moving. We owe them so much. A great reminder of the huge sacrifices made on our behalf.
ReplyDeleteThis is a beautiful poem Virginia. I love how you have structured it, to remember all those human lives: the ones waiting for loved ones to return; those who came back changed; those who died; and the way you conclude it to encompass everyone. It almost reads like a prayer, in the way you end each verse.
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