may you illumine
the battle's grace
the noble face
of those who fought
May your footsteps
where blood was found
turn that ground
to wide forgiveness
And heal and free
those left behind
deep peace find
that passes understanding
Blessed are the peacemakers
Into sunlight they marched,
Into dog day, into no saints day,
And were cut down.
They marched without knowing
How the air would be sucked from their lungs,
How their lungs would collapse,
How the world would twist itself, would
Bend into the cruel angles.
Jean Ponder Allen, “A Prayer for the Journey to the Battlefield"
Ponder's husband, LTC Terry Allen, was killed in action while in command of the 2d Battalion, 28th Infantry in Vietnam. I visited Arlington National Cemetery today, something I'd been meaning to do since I came here. I was there with my younger daughter, and explained some of the stories behind the people I visited there to her.
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