birds fly here without any sound...

John McCrae - In Flanders Fields

"We are the dead; short days ago
We lived, felt dawn..."

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~


William Stafford - At the Un-National Monument Along the Canadian Border

This is the field where the battle did not happen,
where the unknown soldier did not die.
This is the field where grass joined hands,
where no monument stands,
and the only heroic thing is the sky.

Birds fly here without any sound,
unfolding their wings across the open.
No people killed-or were killed-on this ground
hallowed by neglect and an air so tame
that people celebrate it by forgetting its name.



~


Tom Waits - Soldier's Things

A tinker, a tailor, a soldier's things
His rifle, his boots full of rocks
Oh and this one is for bravery and this one is for me
and everything's a dollar in this box

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