Memorial Day
Mourn not the dead that in the cool earth lie–
Dust unto dust–
The calm, sweet earth that mothers all who die
As all men must;
Mourn not your captive comrades who must dwell–
Too strong to strive–
Within each steel-bound coffin of a cell,
Buried alive;
But rather mourn the apathetic throng–
The cowed and the meek–
Who see the world’s great anguish and its wrong
And dare not speak!
(Ralph Chaplin)
