Three years after the Civil War ended, the Grand Army of the Republic established Decoration Day as a time to decorate the graves of war dead with flowers.
Over time this evolved into Memorial Day.
Decoration Day
by James Lowell Hall
It’s a long walk up the hill on Sundays,
but peaceful to sit with you, Son.
Today’s a bit more festive,
the peonies unfurl, Mom’s loaded down
with flowers: bleeding hearts, phlox, ferns, and poppies.
Arrived early for the parade and found
Prairie Rest Cemetery bedecked with flags,
Stars and Stripes on poles up and down the drive,
and flowers, flowers everywhere,
people wearing poppies, decorating
graves of kin, some still hoping
for returning soldiers. Marching in they came,
William Hobson hobbling in the lead,
Delavan’s last survivor of the Civil War.
All stood in honor to salute, or place a hand
across their hearts. Spanish-American War
vets followed, and your platoon from World War I.
Taps played first in Prairie Rest, and echoed
from a cornfield nearby.
There wasn’t an eye stayed dry.
Scouts led the pledge of allegiance, followed by
Ray junior reciting The Gettysburg Address:
that these dead shall not have died in vain—
that government of the people, by the people,
for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
Marguerite’s tearing eyes shone proud.
Things break’n up now, another Decoration
Day is done. It’s empty at home without you,
Son. Next Sunday Mom and I will return to sit
a spell, after the long walk back up the hill.
Comments