Remembering Memorial Day

Do you remember Memorial Day
Beyond the Indy 500 Speedway?
At which soldier’s grave do you decorate,
His or her service to commemorate?

Is it merely the summer’s starting gun,
Time to shed winter and soak in some sun?
A holiday without too much holy --
Get outside and pass the ravioli!

Lest we forget, we’d once solemnly say,
Of why the sacrifices our war dead pay.
Whether their true causes were won or lost,
They did not see for what they paid the cost.

As a boy, it was the day I hated war;
It caused only grief, pain and loss, I swore.
I’d never partake, never support it --
I wished war to end if we ignored it.

Childish wishes ride on butterfly wings --
We learn to not count on such fragile things.
With distrust in peace, we prepare for worse,
Blaming human nature which is our curse.

Although they did not go to war to die,
They seldom knew what else was left to try.
Their deaths are not defeat nor victory.
But enduring steps in our history.