Remember, They Say.

Remember, they say,
They scream it; they shout it,
America’s founding and all things about it.
Remember our fathers, like lions of Rome
Who rose to the call in defense of their home.

Remember, they say,
Through the long mists of time,
Our heroes and legends and leaders sublime.
Think not of their flaws, for of flaws they had none.
Remember that freedom springs forth from a gun.
Recall them as Caesar, but ne’er Cincinnatus.
Recount conquered glories; reject e’ry malice.

Remember, they say,
The one million young boys
Who war’s trumpet called to give up their joys,
Storm beaches and trenches and lay down their lives,
Give up their futures and widow their wives.
Regale and revere them for not what they were,
But as idols of patriotic feelings they spur
For country and duty and honor surpass
Thought, and theory, and philosophic morass.

Remember, they say.
Remember, they say,
As you clap and you nod,
Your duty to country, to honor, to God.
Remember those saints, civic and divine,
Who each nobly fell in defense of the line.

Remember, they say,
Those who courageously led
The armies and nation of our hallowed dead,
Unbridled in power, Olympic in deed.
Action is all, do not bother with creed;
Compassion and dignity, appeals to reason,
Sophistry, pretense to abolish like treason.

Remember, they say,
Men of marble and bronze.
Festoon them with laurels; anoint them with fronds.
Erect to them arches, triumphal and grand.
Honor the ground where their blood mixed with sand.
Think not of the values for which war they made,
Nor ponder the virtue of their great crusade.
For compassion is weak and rights are a song;
Freedom and justice are won by the strong.

Remember, they say.
Remember, they say,
To do as men do,
And give one and all for the red, white, and blue.
Through service, earn glory, marching on after death,
And remember our heroes to your final breath.