through cemetery gates one morn we strolled
the one I love and I
he held my hand and watched the teardrops
seeping from my eyes
if we'd fought that hellish war we would have been
on opposing sides
in silent rows a multitude of headstones stood
like the soldiers lying beneath
names and struggles of their lives forgotten
what to whom did they bequeath?
a broken land and poverty, struggling to recover
sorrowed thoughts and little relief
there were monuments and stone statues
overlooking the manicured ground
except for My Love, the birds and I
no sign of life to be found
I wondered what my own legacy would be
when they laid me down
soldiers and townsfolk together sleep
neath angels and obelisks tall
there are no sides, no wars to fight
in the dust consuming all
a waste of life, battlefield cemeteries
where hopes and dreams silently fall
booming cannons were silenced so long ago
like voices no longer heard
and from that bloody brothers' war
what lessons did we learn?
for man still hates and man still kills
history's wisdom is spurned
more peaceful cemeteries yet to be graced
with many a mother's darling son
more hearts pierced by war machines
before this earth is done
in the end death is the eternal equalizer
where two sides lie still as one
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Reviews of "Through The Confederate Cemetery Gates"
Unfortunately, as you say in your poem, I think the only way mankind will every be at piece with his fellow man, is when we are all lying under the ground, it is a very sad but true indictment of the human race.
this is a beautiful poem so very well written.
Thank you for sharing it.
Steve
This piece is so very sad, yet beautifully written and true. And the story continues even unto today. When I visit Arlington, I am filled with such mixed emotions. The first time I was there, I thought that if my mother were there she would have cried her eyes out, for she was such a tender-hearted soul. Too, when I visited the Vietnam Memorial, I thought I would explode with emotion, for the farther I walked along that black granite wall of names, it became all-consuming to the point that I thought I would die. Thanks for this write, Susan. It has touched the very depths of my being.
Those soldiers, in spite of the poverty the Civil War left everyone in, seemed to have been honored well by those remaining to bury them and give them a peaceful resting place for people to visit 150 years later. I don't think that luxury exists anymore for most. I plan to be cremated. I will not have a headstone at Riverside Cemetery that holds most of my family and many veterans of many wars. My legacy will not be as a fallen warrior with a stone marking my bones, but the legacy these meager writings in the cloud might garner or might not.
Ron
Reviewed by D. Vegas (Reader)
Reviewed on September 3, 2016
The only time I can see a war...if we are attacked on our own soil, 9/11 we were!! Can you imagine the money this and other countries would have if not for WAR!!!
Headstones wetted by morning dew can never cement together the dusty bones interred beneath them by man's inhumanity to his fellow man. And in that dreaded war, perhaps deceased, by their own family member. Tragedy is a mere word, a body laid breathless by a blind bullet cares not what word describes their demise, only the reason. A beautiful sharing patchwork of history humanity and tragedies Susan.
Such a touching write! 'Brought tears to my eyes as so many great and wonderful friends of mine are from the south. I guess I can't say it any better than Mr. Bolton.
This is very, very well written, Susan. You used your words to reach out to us your insightful wisdom. Mankind will never learn, or it hasn't all the centuries past. As Edwin Starr once said, "War, huh, yeah / What is it good for? / Absolutely nothing."
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this is a beautiful poem so very well written.
Thank you for sharing it.
Steve
David
Ron
Always,
Deborah
Love ya!
Jane
Hard to make it much more plainer than that.