~THE MANY AND THE FEW~

It will be the 60th anniversary of D-Day;

battles fought on Normandy's bloody shores…

now as pristine as newly fallen snows;

and the men who died there

are buried in a quiet place of honor -

with white crosses and Stars of David, 

and their whispers can be heard

if you listen when the wind blows among the rows

on rows......

In the end, hundreds of thousands

of men were lost in WWII; 

thousands of men lost in Korea and

then in a place called Vietnam.....

people that you and I knew ~

Then Tomorrow is the 6th day of June,

Somalia and Bosnia and

then came Afghanistan, and

"only" 1,000 or so" in Iraq have been lost

so far

........................ahhh War

....no matter where Taps is played,

no matter where the service takes place,

when they fold our beloved Flag and

place it in the trembling hands

of the mother, the father, the wife

of the one who has fallen,

the one who has given his life,

No matter where, the expression on the face

is much the same.

They knew him;

~~~~~~~they know his name.

All suffering is individual

all loss is individual

all  the pain a million

mothers feel

whether the war was lost or won

can be reduced to just one word:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Son.