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

deathfreedomgriefremembrance dayrhyme

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