Veterans Day

Today, the wind carries their names,

syllables etched in battles long past.  

Men and women who moved mountains,  

who turned storms into stories of strength.  

The ground remembers where they stood,  

where they knelt, where they rose again.  

Flags ripple like whispered prayers,  

each fold holding a piece of sacrifice.  

Freedom is the weight they chose to bear,  

the cost paid in footsteps unreturning.  

A letter unsent, a chair left empty,  

their absence blooms in fields of gratitude.  

We say thank you, though it feels  

too small to meet the measure of loss.  

But still, we offer it—out loud,  

like a hand across generations reaching.  

May we live lives worthy of their fight,  

and build a world lighter for the next,  

where winds no longer hum with battle,  

but still carry their sacred echo forward.