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Devotions Archive
Archive:
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A THOUGHT FOR THE DAYMonday, May 28, 2001
"But grief is not the end of all. I seem to hear the funeral march become a paean. I see beyond the forest the moving banners of a hidden column. Our dead brothers still live for us and bid us think of life, not death--of life to which in their youth they lent the passion and joy of the spring. As I listen, the great chorus of life and joy begins again, and amid the awful orchestra of seen and unseen powers and destinies of good and evil, our trumpets sound once more a note of daring, hope, and will." ----- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 1841-1935 Memorial Day Address, 30 May 1884, Keene, NH |
"Such hearts--ah me, how many!--were stilled twenty years
ago; and to us who remain behind is left this day
of memories. Every year--in the full tide of
spring, at the height of the symphony of flowers and love
and life--there comes a pause, and through the
silence we hear the lonely pipe of death.
Year after year lovers wandering under the apple trees and
through the clover and deep grass are surprised
with sudden tears as they see black veiled figures
stealing through the morning to a soldier's
grave. Year after year the comrades of the dead
follow, with public honor, procession, and
commemorative flags, and funeral march--honor and grief
from us who stand almost alone and have seen
the best and noblest of our generation pass away.