"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." ~George Bernard Shaw

"Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time." ~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn


Sunday, November 11, 2012

Veterans Day-Magpie 143

Verdun, 1917 by Felix Vallotton


Bullets fly
Children die
Young hearts
Brave hearts

The wounded cry
The medics fly
Young hearts
 Brave hearts

Mothers wait
Fathers pace
For their young hearts
Their brave hearts
~~~~~~~~~

World War I was supposed to be the
"War to end all Wars"
But we all know today that was not to be.
Today is the day to remember all those
who died so that we could have the freedoms
we sometimes too carelessly take for granted. 
 ~~~~~~
Tess Kincaid chose this appropriate image for her
blog Magpie Tales. You can read more entries here:

22 comments:

  1. Brava, Ms. Kathe ... brava!!

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  2. I like the simplicity and the repetition...great job.

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  3. Young hears, brave hearts. Yes they were and are. We send our children to war before they can imagine the reality. Well done Kathe.

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  4. Great poem, really tragic. Kisses.

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  5. Nice form! :-)

    But I believe western soldiers are adult men.Why they go to war, though, today, is another question.

    DRY

    Not knowing why
    soldiers die we
    should cry no more.

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  6. Anonymous2:42 PM

    I'm touched. Thank you.

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  7. Yes... way too young if you ask me... but oh so brave

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  8. Sad that so much sacrifice didn't result in a war to end all wars.

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  9. Young and brave- hearts, hands, yes indeed I really like the rhythm too.

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  10. Our youth are squandered in big boy's games of king of the hill. We remember, but never learn.

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  11. War, no matter the reason, and especially for the country attacked, is always a tragedy.

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  12. I like the way this poem moves. Nicely put.

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  13. Great words and message.

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  14. Lest we forget...

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  15. Will our reality ever measure up to our dreams?..love what you wove here!

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  16. Oh, Kathe - you captured the essence so succinctly. My dad would've loved it!

    ps......just had a look at your Mexico pics and think I could be doing with one of those shell phones..lol!

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  17. If only those who make such decisions read poetry. And cry.

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  18. and all for a bunch of degenerate squabbling aristocrats who just couldnt let go of their feuding ways . much like today .

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  19. Oh, I really like this one!

    And it seems like we are kind of on the same page today.

    =)

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  20. Beautiful write - and our children do die on the battlefield...

    Anna :o]

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  21. I'm putting much the same comment here that I put elsewhere.

    We honour those who gave their lives so as to protect their country and the freedom of its people. Then we go to wars that we shouldn't and more people die - service personnel are honoured as their caskets draped in their country's flag are brought home. Their names are carved on memorial stones but who remembers the names of the innocents - the children, the mothers, the fathers, the sisters, the brothers - in far away lands that we should never have touched where families mourn their dead but there are no tombs with inscriptions there.

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