The Memorial Wall
Never forgotten
The memorial wall
standing on this cold day in the fall
Names of so many
lives lost
from so long ago
they were seniors in high school once
Promises ahead
Did they know
their lives would be filled with dread?
Class of 2026
stands around
a future to be found
hopeful faces
soon will be traveling
to so many places
Somewhere inside the school
on a screen
is the class of 2004
are they remembered anymore?
21 years goes so fast
now it is in the past
They were once so young
their lives just had just begun.
Class of 2026
your life is ahead
these moments in time
Days so bright
hold on to them tight
it will soon be
a blip in time
and these days, left behind.
For all that have served our country. Thank you!
I graduated in 1970. A lot of people forget a lot of the military back then was drafted. I was one of the lucky ones. My draft number was high, so I didn't get the letter. I talked to some of my older friends, and they didn't recommend pressing my luck, so I didn't enlist. Did I regret it? No. I talked to a few that didn't mind the Vietnam conflict, but they were not in the front. I am 73 and some of the people I know still carry the wounds of that war, both physically and mentally. When they came home there were no handshakes, "Thank you for your service" or parades and a lot of the vets just disappeared into the landscape.
That's a great tribute to our young men. I graduated in 1967, right in the middle of a horrific era. We lost so many young and there's a black granite wall in D.C. full of names, holding so much grief, proof that war is wrong ... thank you for this poem, Jane.