Memorial Day Prayer

 

When I walked in she was sitting down with a friend knelling by the side of the chair holding her hand.  She was so young and had been in country less than 6-weeks.  He was just 20 and the first soldier to die under my command, just a tall skinny kid.  I don’t remember the words, just the tears, and the garden and blue-green warbler sunning himself in a young red oak.  Yesterday, I bought a small solar light shaped like a bird and placed it in our garden with a prayer for a soldier that had died in my arms 40 years ago, and his young widow who had lost the love of her life.