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#American Mourning Poem
American Service Men and Women Dead – 2,500*
#Coming Home
"Intelligence gathered by this and other governments
leaves no doubt that the Iraq regime continues to possess
and conceal some of the most lethal weapons ever devised."
George W. Bush
President of the United States
State of the Union Address
January 28, 2003
In catacombs of military transports
destined for Dover Air Force Base,
loves, beliefs, ideals, plans:
Hancock Community College,
University of Miami,
New York Police Academy,
weddings, children,
barbeques, baseball, bass fishing-
All lidded down inside caskets
carefully, caringly covered with The American Flag
25-year-old Marine Corps Corporal
St. George, Maine.
Sailor, rock climber, stargazer.
On dance floor, ". . . like a magnet."
Loves lobsters, mussels-
All lidded down inside casket
carefully, caringly covered with The American Flag
30-year-old Army Private First Class
Tuba City, Arizona.
". . . young, single mother and capable."
Her boy, 4 – her girl, 3.
Woman proud of her Hopi heritage-
All lidded down inside casket
carefully, caringly covered with The American Flag
20-year-old Marine Corps Corporal
La Harpe, Illinois.
High school football, basketball player,
lifeguard at health club pool,
lifts weights,
going to be a physical trainer.
Joins Marine Corps Reserve
to pay for studies at Southern Illinois University-
All lidded down inside casket
carefully, caringly covered with The American Flag
21-year-old Marine Corps Corporal
Gallatin, Tennessee.
Nurses dying mother with his humor,
dresses in clown costumes for nieces? birthdays.
History buff, reads fat books about generals,
presidents, the Revolutionary War-
All lidded down inside casket
carefully, caringly covered with The American Flag
24-year-old Coast Guard Petty Officer
Northport, New York.
Wife, three months pregnant.
Wants to be a policeman like his father.
". . . the kind of person that you fall in love with
the minute that you meet him," a friend says-
All lidded down inside casket
carefully, caringly covered with The American Flag
A father, a mother grieve for their only son, an Army Specialist.
"He wanted to be an engineer," the father remembers.
"He wanted to set up his own business when he got out.
And I says, ?Amigo, I?m waiting for you to get out
so we can put up our own business.?
And all that, well, you know, is history."
The Major General carefully, caringly folds The American Flag,
places the nation?s ensign into the mother?s hands
*June 16, 2006
Permission Given to Use Poem with Author Credit
Maxwell Corydon Wheat, Jr. ©
E-mail: Maxwell623@aol.com
Filed under: Long Island Politics, Recommended Poetry, reform, social & economic justice, To Study Up On Nonviolence, US Politics Tagged: | Uncategorized
And arn’t we glad that they were willing to give of themselves in answer to attacks on our shores. As so many have for over two hundred years given of themselves so that we, the living, might go forward taking note of their sacrfices, standing up proudly and giving voice to the ardor which put them in harms way for the sake of the freedom which brought our forfathers to these shores.
And yet our government wishes to allow illegals pour across our borders unhindered so that they might take advantage of the benefits that this country offers. Or, quite possibly, doing harm to that country, as those which brought us september 11,2001.
To those fighting on far away shores;
Thank you, and we stand beside you, and mourn the loss of life. Honoring it by giving respect to the job which you willingly took on so that others might taste the freedom which brought you to their shores.