Bring Flowers

Bring flowers in plenty,

     They were not spring

Of their own hearts’ crimson

     In deeds of daring.

Where dangers were thickest

     By fierce foes intrusion

They scattered their bodies

     In noblest profusion.

Bring flowers in plenty,

     Strew deeply and often,

Some painful remembrance

     Perchance it will soften.

Bring flowers in plenty,

     And list to the story,

The grave of a hero,

     The nation’s great glory.

April 22, ‘97

Little Joker

for June,

      ‘98