The Young Dead Soldiers

[GoddessOfGuinness]

The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.
They say: We were young. We have died.
Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,
it is you who must say this.
We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.

by Archibald MacLeish

[Mind_your_head]

1. There is a fine line between brave and foolish......I'm quite sure that I am

not wise enough to devine between the two.

Peace,
M_Y_H

[pinboy3niner]

2. "Save them a Place," by Maj. Michael Davis O'Donnell

If you are able,
save them a place
inside of you
and save one backward glance
when you are leaving

Be not ashamed to say
you loved them
though you may
or may not have always

Take what they have left
and what they have taught you
with their dying
and keep it with your own.

And in that time
when men decide and feel safe
To call the war insane
take one moment to embrace
those gentle heroes
you left behind.


--Major Michael Davis O'Donnell
Written 1 January 1970
KIA 24 March 1970
Dak To, Vietnam


Love & Peace this Memorial Day, Pinboy

[GoddessOfGuinness]

6. Rest in Peace, Major O'Donnell

Thank you for this beautiful poem.

[pinboy3niner]

3. A kick for Memorial Day

:kick:

[struggle4progress]

4. Soldatenfriedhöfe, versteinertes Leid

Käthe Kollwitz und die "trauernden Eltern"
Von Gisbert Kuhn
http://www.belgieninfo.net.nyud.net:8090/typo3temp/pics/94c2f5f293.jpg
http://www.belgieninfo.net/artikel/view/datum/2009/11/18/soldatenfriedhoefe-versteinertes-leid.html

[GoddessOfGuinness]

5. Käthe Kollwitz was a soldier in her own way, too.

A few of her other works and a bio can be found here:

http://thecicadacollective.wordpress.com/2009/01/14/kathe-kollwitz-artist-and-activist/

Thank you for posting the article.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

7. Tweaking for vets