In honor of Mother’s Day, May 13, 2018

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Day to Night. Author: Kathie Malley-Morrison

Poems by my grandmother, Ernestine Cobern Beyer, that my beloved Mom, Barbara Beyer Malley, and I both love:

The Measure

The strong warm hand, the broad and steady shoulder,

The face you love grown dearer, kinder, older,

The comrade-glance, the peace, the burden-sharing,

The well-loved voice, the touch, the tender caring . . .

O, you who have this, guard it well and treasure it,

For only when you’ve lost it can you measure it!

 

Stars

The stars maintain eternal espionage

Above the earth, light centuries away.

To them our globe seems but a brief mirage

Created in experimental play.

In cosmic calm, indifferent, they beam

On good and evil, tears and wars and scars;

Earth–are you but a transitory dream

Envisioned by the cool and timeless stars?

 

Note from KMM: Let’s all do what we can to ensure that life on earth is not transitory.  Protect Mother Earth. Fight climate change. Conserve. Recycle. Follow the lead of California and go solar.

And for more poetry and prose from my grandmother, my mother, and me, find The Path.

It’s at: https://www.amazon.com/Path-Tears-Laughter-Through-Generations/dp/1986129969/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1525836609&sr=1-1&keywords=barbara+malley+the+path

 

All the stars do not spangle

[Note from the editor: In recognition of Flag Day on June 14 in the U.S., Engaging Peace offers this poem by David Connolly, an anti-war Vietnam veteran and native of South Boston, Massachusetts.]

Air Force sargeant feeds a U.S. flag into a pressing machine in anticipation of its use on a casket
Feeding U.S. flag into pressing machine prior to being placed over casket. (Image in public domain)

All the Stars Do Not Spangle

With the fervency of youth
and the pumping vigor of early manhood
we pledged allegiance,
and never once questioned if it was due.

In classes, on teams,
in gangs, in platoons,
we were taught what we’d need to know
if ever honored to defend you.

We left to battle a people
of stone, earth, water, and war,
who were far, far too hardened
to ever yield.

The first of the war I saw
was an officer in a jeep,
shooting gleefully
at a farmer in his field.

Used by permission of the poet