on the elevens day

Veterans Day
the sale
yet we secure the sales
and
all the ordinary things
of home
and there are more and better

the people
those
we’re related to

our friends
all those we knew and didn’t know
whom we were fighting for

and we’re not whole or pretty
when we’re fighting
in our
fractured ways
by orders

and we give
as much as there is
and
if we’re here then we know others
who gave it all
by service

home
then
and somewhere else at war
which is the current privilege
of nation

democracy the great experiment

and thank you
thank you so much
for
giving of the gifts
of mind and heart
and skill
and should it go that way
in war
of blood

of bone
of talent
of however goes the willingness
to serve

which we count positive
so positive
not
by perfection
but by extraordinary exertion

on the field
in the arid
dusty streets
by the rinsing ocean

in depths
in heights
and on the even line
that horizons out
to Earth
and finally
to home

for all the steady service
and the sacrificing

maybe
it seemed ordinary
too
and yet is remarkable
in serving the great experiment

democracy

and peace behind the front
out of the trench
also
behind base fences

a presence and an action
which bring temporal peace
until
we all have eternal

c l couch


photograph by Jake Weirick at Unsplash