Rotary Prayer....
Each week at the Colesville Rotary Club, we have a poem before dinner. It is part Grace, part thought du jour, and is usually topical.....related to the season or whatever program is planned for that evening. This one was written quite a few years ago, but for the reason given below was trotted out again. It speaks to my soul, but then I wrote it....it will prove its value if it speaks to yours.
May 24, 2017
I am repeating this poem – one of my favorites – in honor of the coming Memorial Day weekend…and in tribute to those who have given their time, their service, and their lives to safeguard the freedoms and blessings we enjoy, yet so often take for granted. May Heaven bless them and their loved ones, who also bear the burden of service.
On
Countless
Fields of war is shed
The blood of soldiers,
Poppy red.
For freedom’s choice
Their youth must pay,
Yet fleeting peace
Soon fades away.
Our
Honored dead
We hold so dear,
Remembering
At this time of year
That freedom is paid for,
Not once or twice,
But through
Repeated sacrifice.
Thus, in respect,
Let’s bow our heads
And thank our God
For those who said,
“My country needs the likes of me,
My strength, my heart, my energy.
And if for my homeland
All is spent,
Please tell my children
Where I went.
Please tell them
Freedom isn’t cheap,
But a sacred trust
That all must keep.
And…in the latter days of May,
Please think of me
And pause to pray.”
Amen.