Tuesday, February 17, 2015

A Poem From A Soldier To His Mother (Part 2)

Here is another poem I found that my dad had sent to his mother while away from home during World War II. As much as it speaks of a different age, it also speaks to me of a young man I never knew, the man my father was long before I was ever born.

This country of ours is waging
A battle from sea to sea
And I’m truly grateful
That the battle includes me.

Though myself, I’m not superhuman
And though myself I can’t win this war
Just think of the effect it would have
To add to me ten million more.

Some may be majors and captains
While us privates acquire no fame
But what good is a picture
If it hasn’t got a frame.

I stand ready to do my duty
To fight and to die if there’s need
So that the people I left behind me
Needn’t under a dictator bleed.

When this mess is cleared up
And when our men return
There will be celebrations
And there will be no need to yearn

The men will then take over
To relieve women tired and ill
Let women return to her household
While men return to the mill.

Let new cars roll out of the factory
Let people have tires and gas
Let wives have sugar and coffee
Let sportsmen return to their bass

Let baseball return to its standing
As America’s No. 1 game
Let football and hockey and tennis
Return and again be the same.



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