Monday, May 31, 2010

Memorial Day

The Concord Hymn - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1837)
By the rude bridge that arched the flood,
Their flag to April's breeze unfurled;
Here once the embattled farmers stood;
And fired the shot heard round the world.

The foe long since in silence slept;
Alike the conqueror silent sleeps,
And Time the ruined bridge has swept
Down the dark stream that seaward creeps.

On this green bank, by this soft stream,
We place with joy a votive stone,
That memory may their deeds redeem,
When, like our sires, our sons are gone.

O Thou who made those heroes dare
To die, and leave their children free, --
Bid Time and Nature gently spare
The shaft we raised to them and Thee.

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I really shouldn't... and I'd rather not have the picture on the same page, but it's too obvious to pass up.
Memorial Day honors those who fought and died in all kinds of weather,








You'd think that those charged with officially remembering them could manage to brave the rain to do so.


5 comments:

Joan of Argghh! said...

Well, it's a moot point, but I'm just as glad that our National Coward did not succeed in disgracing us further today by actually trying to convince anyone he cares.

Sal said...

God help him if the TOTUS shorts out...

USS Ben USN (Ret) said...

Thanks Van!
Great tribute!

Sal, lol! Obama sure seems apprehensive around lightning don't he? :^)

Good point, Joan. If Obama ain't sincere about it (and he ain't) he's better off stayin' away.

Although it's a shame he can't even serve as a bare bones symbol and do his duty.

But at this point he has openly spit on our Constitution and shown disdain for our liberties and everything that makes America great, so there ain't no way he's putting that genie back in the bottle.

Van Harvey said...

Call me cynical, but my bet is that the prospect of giving a speech without the TOTUS, was more alarming to him than the rain.

Now... his line 'We're worried about lightning" has more of a ring of truth to it.

;-)

Yabu (EOTIS) said...

I had a uncle who participated in the German (name) Unternehmen Wacht am Rhein. He said it was the coldest he'd ever been, and he had to fight for his life...no having a warm beverage around a camp fire.

A thunderstorm and 0bama breaks for cover...where are we going?