Thanks

Thanks 5/29/2012


If the opposite of hot is cold
Then lukewarm is death
Because nothing is more indifferent
Than a man forgotten.

The boredom of the day
Beats down with the sun
Burning our skin
And numbing the brain.

We immerse ourselves in water
And drift in the waves
Cooking ourselves in oil
With sand between our toes.

I could smell the burning charcoal
Wafting to my nostrils
As my father cooked the meat
Near the camper
At the lake.

Another day and another memory
Of long summer days
Full of his laughter
And unconditional love.

He remains in me
And I belong to him
One of many
That almost never was.

The white crosses spread out
As far as the eye can see
Men like him
Who never got the chance.

Giving all they had
For a promise
And sacrificing all
Those yet unborn.

Liberty is the greatest gift
Like fresh air for the lungs
The blessing of limitless possibilities
As far as imagination can run.

We have enjoyed the harvest
An undeserved cornucopia of plenty
To come and go unmolested
To think and express ourselves
As we please.

But all is not free and easy
Because man is a slave
To greed and power
Always seeking to control
Through intimidation and violence.

Fanning the flames of resentment
And spilling innocent blood
Hell-bent on domination
Where the end justifies the means.

These men made the difference
And now they rest in silent formation
Watering the ground with their blood
To grow a future
Verdant and beautiful.

We are the legacy
And we are the blessed
But the future will reap the rewards
That we ourselves have sown.

Have we cared enough for family?
And how have we remembered?
The aging, the wounded
The hurting, and the lonely.

Raise up your glass
And remember the fallen
Drinking deeply of the memory
Full, rich, and stout.

Smell the smoke
And fire off the guns
Breathing free with wild abandon
Enough for all the lives
Unfinished and unknown.