Pleasant Wood

They call this fine lawn
“Pleasant Wood Cemetery.”
A mere breeze of dawn
across the beautiful prairie
silent and dew wet,
stirs the green carpet.

90 years gone by,
bullets flew in a blur;
death in the blue sky.
The dark harvester
mowed down hundreds.
In minutes they lay dead.

Scores would succumb;
Aussie and Brit,
dumped into holes glum.
No markers with name writ,
no prayers for eternity
or souls set free.

They slept mute and alone
until an errant plow blade
exposed a shattered bone,
and slowly history lay
upon rich brown soil.
The past began to uncoil.

The War Graves Commission,
nations of the old British Empire
were once again on a mission.
They worked without tire
to name the nameless
with DNA and luck no less.

Military decorations, uniforms and buttons
were collected from among the bones,
naming fallen fathers and sons.
A locket with hair in blond tones
and a return ticket to Australia,
were found among other paraphernalia.

Headstones are slowly being added
for these long lost victims,
no longer nameless dead.
The task is long and grim
and takes dedication of heart
to give name to those long departed.

Those whose identity remains a mystery
will still lie in silence but not loneliness,
or upon a forgotten page of history.
Their grave stone will bear witness
to their sacrifice, etched with words bold
“Known Unto God With His Hand To Hold.”

On July 19, 94 years after the echo
of the last rifle shot slowly died
and the battle flags hung low,
upon this beautiful field wide
the last man will again be laid to rest.
Let this hallowed ground be blessed.

They call this fine lawn
“Pleasant Wood Cemetery”
in honor of those gone,
whose souls do not tarry.
Here beneath the green carpet
lie those who paid the ultimate debt.

_____________________________

Lou Marin, a Christian grateful for Jesus’ gift to him, was born and raised in the western hills of Maine, then spent 20 plus years wandering the country and world in the United States Air Force. Maine Department of American Legion’s Historian, he is a photographer and stringer for The Maine Trust for Local News, published poet and short story writer who pens faith based devotionals. He lives in Rumford, Maine. He is author of an anthology of poems based upon his military career entitled “Dimly Seen Through The Mists,” and a book of faith based poems entitled “My Lighthouse In Troubled Times,” available through Pen It! Publications.

Lou can be reached at mbsphotog@yahoo.com or his Facebook Page.

As the Voice of the Veteran Community, The Havok Journal seeks to publish a variety of perspectives on a number of sensitive subjects. Unless specifically noted otherwise, nothing we publish is an official point of view of The Havok Journal or any part of the U.S. government.