and another one

Memories of the Church at Tenent,
Englishtown NJ.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In my youth I walked among the pews,
Brought here by my Father,
Whose reverence of history,
Lives on within me.
The smell of must tinging the air,
Of that little white Tenent Church.

I remember the awe I felt,
My hands running over blood,
Left 200 years before.
A more powerful memorial,
Then those slabs of remembrance,
Planted in the graveyard,
Cold and lifeless.

So many I remember....
Crumbling masonry,
Words hardly legible,
Marking those who came
And never returned.
Blood stained colonial pews,
Where young men laid,
Wounded and dying,
In the throws of the birth of this nation.

An ocean away, I remember the photographs,
A sight never witnessed although,
Is forever etched in my mind.
Rows upon rows of white crosses,
Spread out acre upon acre.
Young blood shed for conviction,
Of men giving the ultimate gift.

On this day I remember,
The many lives given for freedom,
So many forgotten,
This gift, taken for granted.
Paid for with the blood of sacrifice,
So that I may live as I do today.
© May 24 1998
jeanne marie