June 6
A day in late spring
In which I did a little painting of part of a cinder block wall
Wrote on the computer for several hours
Had three good meals
Listened to the radio
And took a nap
But I was thinking
Of June 6 sixty-nine years before
And a place an ocean removed from my comfortable home.
D-Day
And of the thousands of men and women involved in the greatest invasion in history
Dropping into danger, coming ashore under murderous fire, scaling high cliffs,
Dying, wounded, striving and finally prevailing on that day,
The beginning of the end for the Thousand-Year Reich.
My mother talked of ironing and listening to the news on the radio
My father was somewhere in Burma or China or India
(He said they often didn’t know where they were)
And I am right here, musing that there was so little notice of the sacrifices made on this day
And thinking that there needs to be some kind of notice.
And so, brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, people on the home front, here is your notice:
On this day I salute you and I thank you, living and dead, for your sacrifice
That gave me this peaceful day
On June 6
So many years
Later.
Biscuit City 