We Will Never Forget...Memorial Day, 2016... Guy Graybill Shares One Story...

Battlefield Reunion

(Gettysburg, 1913)

Here we meet, don't you know? Comrades, now without foe.

Here we camp and recall battle scenes.

Now we sit by our tents, to compare past events,

As we feast on a soup made with beans.

Here we laugh and we sing while we have us a fling,

For tonight we will not have a care.
Yes, the kettles will steam and old comrades will beam,
While the mem'ries of combat we share.

So, we mingle, with pride and take again in stride.
Soon our spirits are fully restored.
Of our nation we brag and salute us a flag.
Then we pause to give thanks to the Lord.

But, I voice my dismay at the closing of day,
As we rest under moon's gentle light:
Should we not shed a tear for dead comrades, so dear,
Who still haunt our old campground each night?

Wall of Names by Guy Graybill in Whimsy and Wry-- We Mourn Them...

Wall of Names

Most walls are built to separate;

But, this wall's built to bind,

It brings together fallen souls

With loved ones left behind...

This wall will span the ocean's waves.

This wall will span the years;

And, though, it sheds the pounding rains,

It will absorb the tears.

One Man sees others place bouquets

And hears them softly cry,

While making tracings of the names,

His son was one to die.

His son, they said, stepped on a mine

That lay beneath the ground;

But, no remains were gathered then

And none were ever found.

They never sent a body bag,

No 'welcome' could occur.

He held a dismal service; but,

With nothing to inter.

He prays...and hopes to capture, here,

By copying the name,

The spirit of the loved one lost,

That he might hold and frame.

So he will trace the chiseled name,

Upon the sheet it's pressed.

And, if he's caught the troubled soul,

He'll take it home to rest.

And when, someday, we put aside

All campaigns, great and small, 

We'll know the world has finally learned...

The message of our wall.

~~~

Poetry and Pictures...by Adolfo...

Memorial Day, 2011

Adolph Caso

Rhododendrons abounding

In full bloom along the graveyard

With stones going back:

from the Revolution

to the Civil War

and from World War II

to the present conflict:

Our emotions registering

Over the names of each fallen brave

Kept close to our hearts

By our right hands

In sync with the rhythm

Of the Star Spangled Banner,

Pondering:

How the Revolution

Created the nation,

How its Civil War

Preserved it,

And how the second war

saved the world

From threats

By Communists and Nazi.

With the mention

of the fallen from Iraq,

The metaphor of the madras

Ripped my heart apart

Envisioning the next conflict

To save and preserve the human soul,

confident,

in view of the gatherers,

that America will,

once again

come through

to fulfill the incipient principles

on which this country was founded.

Wingless Flight

Adolph Caso

If you had wings

I could not teach you

How to fly,

Even if one loves

And the other does not.

or better,

if both are in love.

Birds soaring toward heaven

On wings spread wide

Never reach it

No matter how hard they try.

But,

When two people fall in love

Heaven

Mysteriously

Comes down to them

And teaching how to love

All but becomes un-necessary.

Not possible to birds,

Wingless flights

Will abound,

Each time,

We truly fall in love!