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Poetry At Greenville
Laurence J. Sasso, Jr.
In Their Memory
We know their faces and their names
they left in April
apple blossoms sticking
to their cheeks,
sons and daughters,
orphans, nephews, uncles, fathers,
we know their faces and their names
They left in darkness or at dawn,
mud from the fields on their boots
They put down their tools,
closed up cabins on the lake,
left offices or classrooms,
looms at the woolen mill
In winter, fall, and summer,
they answered the call
leaving in twos and threes
or all alone at noon
Left for the orchards of France
or the black volcanic sand of IwoJima,
the Meuse-Argonne, Da Nang, Incllon, Belleau Wood,
the Persian Gulf, Okinawa, Somalia, Afghanistan
Stars went up in windows
mothers waited, friends, lovers
wrote letters, went to work, worried
sat in pews on Sunday, praying
More went off to other shores
to the oceans, to the jungle,
to the desert, or the frozen forests
under the colors of their country, their command
And after months and years they came home,
some to bands and music, parades and cheering,
flags, the family, neighbors,
and some came back alone,
their brothers forever in the hedgerows,
the dirt, the sea, the beaches of places far away.
And when tomorrow comes, tomorrow and tomorrow,
more will join the ranks, put on the uniform, and go,
and more and more will say good-bye, give us their love,
put on the uniform, and go.
Laurence J. Sasso, Jr.
November 11, 2001