Sunday, June 4, 2017

Casualties of War and Memorial Day 2017

Generations raised in peacetime never comprehend past carnage.  Freed from witnesses, belligerence always rises again.

My church hosted a silent prayer vigil on Memorial Day 2017, specifically for Casualties of War.  A slight expansion on the formal purpose of the day.

First arriving, I prepared the sanctuary.  Brought the last of the iris. Lit the candles.  Made impromptu welcome signs.  Propped open the main doors early.  A vase of nearly spent dark flowers graced the entrance table.

Yet nothing prompted purpose.  I found a broken pencil.  Carved a point with my box knife.  Roughly printed these words and placed them beside the vase. 


"That I may not go unmourned,

That some would plead my maker
mercy on this soul.

That some might grieve and say
I did not have to die so soon."


It's not a poem I remember, not much of a poem at all.  Scrawled in moments, perhaps some stranger's plea preserved. Did I read it somewhere? Does it matter?

Before others arrived, I prayed an hour.  Fittingly and properly, Memorial Day commemorates U.S. fallen soldiers. Sometimes we forget the wounded, the civilians, the horrific losses of our enemy (now our friend).  Casualties all.  Worthy of being remembered.  If only that memory were immunizing.