Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MEMORIALS, by JOHN WATKINS MOSELEY JR.


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MEMORIALS, by                    
First Line: Memorial days crowd the past into the present
Last Line: If they would be wafted into the realm of greatness.
Subject(s): Holidays; Memorial Day; Declaration Day


Memorial Days crowd the past into the present
And compel the fragile to meet the mighty!

It may be some mighty one from ancient conflict
With illiteracy, deep and dense, that refuses
Man the light of truth and accumulated lore,
Some rare Bede who will not be restrained
By brew of witch or bull of mitered locks
It matters not how hot the crackling flames.

It may be some mighty one from ancient conflict
With an ocean, wild and wide, that refuses
Man the right to walk upon her western sands,
Some rare Genoese who will not be restrained
By wave and water it matters not how formidable
Their terrific tides, their fierce maelstroms.

It may be some mighty one from ancient conflict
With tantalizing tyranny that refuses
Mere man the right of life or liberty or bare happiness,
Some lofty Lincoln who will not be restrained
By constitutional inhibitions when the clank of chains
Holds half the nation in debasing servitude.

It may be the mighty One who met the ancient conflict
With the Prince of this world whose subtlety dares
Damn the Creator and crush His creatures,
Some rare Nazarene who will not be restrained
By the panoplies of hell when little children cry
For help and Magdalens are sick of their sordidness.

Memorial Days crowd the past into the present
And compel the fragile to be mighty!
The weak cannot walk with the great without catching
The spirit of their greatness. Let the weak walk
With the mighty whether Cuthbert or Christ
If they would be wafted into the realm of greatness.





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