ARLINGTON

Story ID:	3923
Written by:	Bobby O'neill Mitchum (bio, contact, other stories)
Story type:	Poem
Location:	phenix city alabama u.s.a.
Year:	2008
Person:	self

Although i was invited
to a backyard barbeque,
i chose instead to come here
to say that i thank you,

I thank you for your service
to this nation and our land,
for you are hero's all
each and very man.

Now the guns are silent
and the drums no longer beat,
and the flag is folded neatly
no more revili nor retreat.

For you the fight is over
no longer the cadence beat,
for the marble stones are placed
there at your head and feet.

Some where in the distance
a lonesome bugle sounds,
playing taps for our nation's hero's
who sleep in this hallowed ground.

So thank you for your sacrifice
thats what i came to say,
instead of eating barbeque
on this memorial day...