Happy Holiday -- Happy Memorial Day

Mister Everett Wheeler Cartwright came from Burlington Vermont All the way to Massachusetts---quite a healthy jaunt Didn't really understand the cause the Union fought so hard for Freedom from King George of England---far beyond his ken, and Dying from an errant bullet, no one said to Everett Wheeler Cartwright, "Happy Holiday!"---at his untimely end. ******** Eldridge Porter Hampton hailed from Cotton Valley Louisiana Had no money, had no slaves, but loved his hoe and banjo Never heard of Douglas, never heard of Lincoln; couldn't read or write much, nothin' but his name. Yet Eldridge Porter came a runnin' East to serve: For Johnny Rebel's legend gave him courage, gave him nerve to face the soldier'd took his life---No 'Happy Holiday' for his wife. ******** Now the deaths are all forgotten; now the mem'ries fade away Solders fighting wars today: mocked, reviled, e'en betrayed "Happy Holiday" to one and all: "Memorial Weekend Super Sales" Picnics, outings, lakeshore (or) beachside---Beer and Wine and Ale Far removed from battles, far removed from war's numb pain One more US Holiday---demeaned o'er tear-stained plains. A poem in trochaic hexameter and octameter