I've posted this before, but I'll post it again for Memorial Day. Someday I won't have any new names to whisper a thanks to on Memorial Day. I long for that year.

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The spirit of a warrior,
No time can ever claim;
It rides the winds from age to age,
And is known by many names.

Born not to life, but duty,
His purpose to be slain;
To lie at rest in hallowed fields,
Until called to rise again.

Tho from life to life he wanders,
Twas not for life he came;
But to march amidst the smoke,
And earn again his name.

He seeks not praise or fortune,
No honors to proclaim;
His worth for all posterity,
Is bound up in his name.

He hopes but that you know him,
As peace is his only gain.
And he asks his endless question:
"Do you know yet who I am?"

"Of stronger steel was I forged,
To break the strongest chains,
That hold men slaves to the tyrant's will,
And freedom's name profanes.

"I hastened then to every strife,
Where freedom did proclaim --
At Bunker Hill and Yorktown,
And 'Liberty' was my name.

"On a thousand fields in a thousand times,
I was there, and there, I still remain;
My name is whispered in the grass
From Manassas to Antietam.

"Is not my name forever scribed,
On that black memorial wall?
And on the stones of countless fields,
Where the sons of right did fall.

"Do you know yet who I am?
Do you know yet why I came?
Do you know why I, again, must leave
To earn once more a name?

"A warrior in the ancient ranks,
From now to when time began,
Of endless legions of the brave,
And 'Honor' was my name.

"I was at Thermopylae,
With the 300 on that plain;
With life, I, immortality bought,
And 'Faithful' was my name.

"I came again in every time,
To those fateful fields of fame,
Masada, Bataan and Alamo,
And 'Courage' was my name.

"I am now, and was before,
And will be yet again.
I've loved you in the present time;
Do you not then know my name?

"I've known the field, the trench, the wall;
I've perished in the flame --
Suffered spear, and sword, and rifle ball,
And 'Duty' was my name.

"Do you remember me at Belleau Wood?
Weren't we brothers in the 'Nam,
Where we shared out water and our blood,
And 'Valor' was my name?

"Are we bonded yet with eternal links,
Our tears and blood the same?
Didn't we together fall, on distant fields,
Where 'Glory' was my name?

"Because of you and for you,
Have I endured the endless pain,
Of untold deaths on forgotten fields,
Where 'Unknown' was my name?

"I'm the spirit of the warrior,
And have lived time and time again,
And have known no death of consequence,
Unless 'Dishonor' was my name.

"Do you know then who I am?
Do you know my secret name?
Am I husband, brother, father, son?
Does your heart now feel the same?

"I must furl those splendid banners,
To be borne by other men;
And sword and shield I lay aside,
Never to be raised again.

"When next we meet on distant shores,
Where joy and hope shall reign,
You'll know me not as you know me now,
For 'Peace' will be my name.

-- M.L. McKinney