An annual Truce it is,
For a part of a week,
Sometimes just an hour,

But like the pilgrimage
On Decoration Day,
A returning to Memory.

No, I was not there,
Nor were my grandfathers
(For which I once felt guilty),

But my early time
Bordered their time and,
I remember the Feeling:

The roots of Scouting,
The Yankee Doodle Dandy,
Armistice Day,

And history's Pulse
That thrust us on to the
Next Great War.

O, Innocence,
O, Clarity of Rightness,
O, Patriotism,

O, Confidence
In American Goodness,
Where are you?

The great Promise,
The unquestioned Surety
Of the Eleventh Hour?

Yes, you live on still,
If only in the Learning
Of the War.

05/17/2005