A Grateful Heart by Nancy Meek

This Armistice Day i have posted a 'modern' poem from an American lady whose husband was a combat soldier.

It is not First World War but i read it recently and i thought i captured the spirit of that lost generation.

A Grateful Heart

To the combat soldier
Who has seen his time in Hell,
Thank you for your sacrifice
And for coming home to tell
That no glory is found in war,
Nor honourable thing residing there
Which should light a candle in the eyes
Of our children so innocent and fair.

Thank you for your prayers
That we cast aside our hate,
To put on the armour of love
And no more wars create.
To all the fallen roses
Who answered freedom’s call,
Please know that you are more
Than names upon a wall.

Without you there on foreign land
Staring down death face-to-face,
Our lives would be on shifting sand
Our freedoms torn from our embrace.
Our saviour bravely died for us
Upon the cross at Calvary,
So we could have eternal life;
That, through His act, we might be___

He was called, as were you
To meet His bitter end.
No greater love has any man
Than to lay down his life for a friend.
For this, a grateful heart swells,
For soldiers who gave their all
For fighting the good fight
And rising to the call.

May you find peace in God’s arms,
As the sheep in the shepherd’s care.
May love be found there waiting
At the end of your thousand-yard stare.

by Nancy Meek