Saturday

Dress Blues

All we have of freedom,
All we use or know,
This our fathers bought for us
Long and long ago.
Rudyard Kipling
The Old Issue
(
1899)

Memorial Day Poems – Dress Blues
A Rhyme Embossed with Freedom’s Cost
His uniform, it gathers dust,
And yet she keeps it, as she must.
For since she heard the word, bereft,
It’s all of him that she has left.

His many medals, multi-hued,
Recall his image, love renewed.
With pride and sorrow, in his stead,
They form a pillow for her head.

Her love was spilt across the sea
To answer calls for liberty.
Though he’s been gone for many years,
His memory still ties her to tears.


She’ll line her walk with flags again
To honor all the fallen men
And pray for loved ones left alone
With nothing by a granite stone.

She’ll lay some blossoms by his name,
Her loyalty thus to proclaim,
And hold his empty hat again
Until she joins the freedom train.
c2008 by Linda Ann Nickerson

Public domain photo

(Posted for a “freedom” prompt at One Single Impression.)

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9 comments:

  1. That is absolutely beautiful. It brought tears to my eyes. Thanks so much for sharing.

    Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

    Jane

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  2. Linda, your one single impression is beautiful and heartfelt. And the work you did linking the words is phenomenal!

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  3. You gave us a good idea of what is like to lose someone to a war. You seem to speak from experience here, if so, I offer my condolences and say Thank You. A great memorial poem to our veterans!

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  4. Thanks for this fine piece, Linda. These lines are amazing:
    And they salute the sacrificed,
    Who gave beyond what could be priced.
    Writing in Faith: Poems

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  5. Such lovely emotion in this poem ... peace, JP/deb

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  6. Very well done and all too familiar a story to so many.

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  7. ..another soldier dies that others may live..thank u for this emotional poem
    and a meaningful prompt..

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  8. That was so beautiful and moving. It really did bring me to tears.

    Thank you.

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