Sunday Kipling - Memorial Day Edition

Today is not the day to thank a serving member or veteran for their service. It's a day to honor, thank and remember those who gave their all. It's especially poignant here today as it's the first since we lost The Sarge, Lu's beloved dad. He was a two tour Vietnam veteran who ultimately lost his battle against the unseen wounds all combat vets are exposed to and must endure. We miss him dearly.

As we do all those we have sent off to that cauldron never to return. Or to return so broken and damaged that their lives are cut all too tragically short. Not all those honorable dead met their end on the battlefield so far from home. Some gave their all without knowing it at the time. Only to return home and face a different kind of fight. One against a body damaged beyond repair and a bureaucracy that doesn't give a damn. Remember them when it comes time to call those responsible to account. Keep them in your prayers because they need all the help they can get. It's never over. One generation is replaced by the next. The names and faces are different but the stories are all too familiar. To those men and women, who are waging yet the war they thought had been left behind, we owe honor, fidelity and support. May they forgive us our failures and may we ever renew and honor the promises we made them when we sent them marching off on our behalf. Even the courageous need a helping hand from time to time. That this country has forgotten and abandoned them now, in their time of greatest need, casts a pall of shame upon us all.

I will take a moment today and offer up a heart felt prayer for our honorable dead. Killed in defense of hearth and home. "They placed their bodies between their home and the war's desolation" to quote my favorite author. They died that others may live. Heroes all.

They may be gone but so long as even one of us remains they will never be forgotten.

For The Sarge, Pop to those who knew and loved him. We'll cry again today Pop but only because we miss you and not because you died for what you loved. That we will honor.

In your memory.
Six and Lu

Soldier, Soldier

"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Why don't you march with my true love?"
"We're fresh from off the ship an' 'e's maybe give the slip,
An' you'd best go look for a new love."
New love!  True love!
Best go look for a new love,
The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your eyes,
An' you'd best go look for a new love.
 
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
What did you see o' my true love?"
"I seed 'im serve the Queen in a suit o' rifle-green,
An' you'd best go look for a new love."
 
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Did ye see no more o' my true love?"
"I seed 'im runnin' by when the shots begun to fly 
But you'd best go look for a new love."
 
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Did aught take 'arm to my true love?"
"I couldn't see the fight, for the smoke it lay so white 
An' you'd best go look for a new love."
 
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
I'll up an' tend to my true love!"
"'E's lying on the dead with a bullet through 'is 'ead,
An' you'd best go look for a new love."
 
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
I'll down an' die with my true love!"
"The pit we dug'll 'ide 'im an' the twenty men beside 'im 
An' you'd best go look for a new love."
 
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
Do you bring no sign from my true love?"
"I bring a lock of 'air that 'e allus used to wear,
An' you'd best go look for a new love."
 
"Soldier, soldier come from the wars,
O then I know it's true I've lost my true love!"
"An' I tell you truth again -- when you've lost the feel o' pain
You'd best take me for your true love."
True love!  New love!
Best take 'im for a new love,
The dead they cannot rise, an' you'd better dry your eyes,
An' you'd best take 'im for your true love.