Randy E. Richmond

VETERANS DAY, 2007

On that long ago eleventh day
Peace had somehow found its way
Bones were buried, trenches were filled
Birds resumed singing when the cannon were stilled

Winter wind whisked the smell from the ground
Springtime brought promise to the land all around
Green grass and flowers came with summer rain
Children ran barefoot through tall fields of grain

A tenuous truce, hanging there in the breeze
Like November leaves that cling to the trees
The war that was thought as the end to all others
Proved only a season in the procession of brothers

They are those who on this day we’ll recall
The brave and the fallen, those who served one and all
While disappointment drips from old saddened eyes
Peace was and will remain the elusive treasured prize

The ‘Armistice’ has evolved since the world rejoiced that day
To include all those who joined the quest or in quiet slumber lay
So happy Veterans Day to all of you as we commemorate that date
While for the eleventh hour that brings world peace, we wistfully await…