MEMORIAL DAY, 2010

MEMORIAL DAY, 2010

When I think of Memorial Day, of course, I think of war, and the sadness war has brought to all man-kind since the beginning of time. I have often thought that we should, by now, be beyond war; that the evolution of man would have placed us just below the angels (as many believe) rather than just above the apes which seems to be the reality. Our ancestors of ape-land are extremely teritorial, protecting to the death, with war-like intensity, their "place" on earth, just as we do the same. I so want to live in a more perfect world, but I think, even though we continue to evolve (and we have made progress), we will not arrive at a place of shared tranquility for a very long, long time (certainly not in my lifetime!). And sadly, it may never happen before we destroy ourselves, each other and all living things. A sad thought indeed! In the meantime, soldiers of every place on earth must die protecting their spot, and we must go on, sadly, remembering our soldiers and their families for their heroic efforts in protecting our spot. As I sat on my porch this morning looking out at my lush, green yard, I thought of all the war-torn places around the world, and wrote this poem.

THOUGHTS IN MID-MAY

I sit quietly on my porch in early morn
the end of the month of May
And look out to the distant field
Where prairie grass is beginning to sway
With the morning breeze

And, I see wildflowers starting to grow
In colors not yet defined
But which will be varied and brilliant
In time

The chickadees, finches and meadow larks
Warble and sing their song
And just below my open window
The purple, fragrant lilacs grow
From their hedges, row upon row

Our birdfeeder is busy too this a.m.
Yellow finches hanging upside down
Eating their morning breakfast down
While robins hop around the yard
In need of fresh worms to pull

Colors of green fill up the trees
Their different shaped leaves
Fluttering and flapping
In the morning breeze

But then I pause
And my thought begin to wander
To war-torn areas around the globe
Where nothing,
Not even a leaf can grow

Where nothing grows among the rubble
But more and more
War-torn trouble

A place where flowers won't bloom
And birds won't sing
And no grasses will grow

And I think of all of those
Who would wish to take my place
To be here in my space
Where flowers and grasses grow
And yellow birds sing