The following poem was written to honor all soldiers, in every sense of the word– those in the U.S. military, those who have fallen for civil rights at home, those who are diligent in spiritual warfare, and anyone we deem our daily personal soldiers. Each of their sacrifices are unique….

But today I’d like to focus on military soldiers. I good friend of mine, a proud veteran, recently passed away. His was the first military funeral I had been to. It was also the most beautiful and honorable funeral I have witnessed.

Memorandum

We collect the memorabilia of faith

Place them behind glass, and wait

But the soldier has fallen for our sake

We charge admission to visitors

No memory of money changers and vendors

Memorandum from a soldier

Marked return to sender

Because Truth does no live here

We suffer from amnesia

Collecting faith-based memorabilia

Placing it behind glass

Unaware that we’ve spread our picnic

On a desert battlefield

With no more soldiers to stand

And ward off our ignorance

Soldiers are falling

And we ignore the muted trumpet sound

Waning through the waxing pile of spiritless vessels

We place the objects of our faith behind glass and wait

For our soldiers to return before the photographs fade

But our soldiers are fighting

Because they place their faith in their veins

So even when they fall their faith is not in vain

We try escaping from our pain

Burying our memories in mass graves

Despite this memorandum

We’ll continue to place faith in glass cases

And wait

For the soldiers to go before us

On the front lines wearing faith on their faces

Whether or not we have memory

The soldier has written history

Sarah L. Webb

What’s in your hand?