In 2007, two years before we married, David and I took a romantic cruise from Paris to La havre France. Seeing Monet's home and the beautiful towns along the way was pure joy. But one spot was different. Normandy. It was solemn and more moving than I ever imagined it would be.
War is hell. Instead of writing something about D-Day, I've decided to share my mother's poem about Armistice - the signing , in 1911, of the end of World War I (the war to end all wars.)
My mother, Carmen Strange Riley, wrote beautiful, funny, intelligent poetry. She died at age 37 after spending years in a TB sanitarium. I don't know how old she was when she wrote this poem in celebration of Armistice Day in Louisville, Kentucky. She wrote several poems from a child's point of view and sometimes as an only child which was interesting because she was one of the youngest of 13 children. But, no matter when she wrote it, she expresses all of our feelings about having our loved ones return from war. P.S. Let's try not to let D-Day fade from memory. Watch "The Longest Day"
The Kid's Armistice
My paw's coming' home now,
'Cause my maw, she 'ist said so.
Boy, won't I be glad to see him
He had to go to war you know.
Paw, he was kinda' young
When maw an' him first met;
An' I wuz young when paw went to war,
An' I ain't very old yet.
Maw, she says there's most a thousand people kilt;
I wonder what they kilt 'em for.
I sure am glad my paw didn't get hurt
In that mean old war.
Last night the whistles blew and blew,
An' maw sang the sweetest song
Maw said 'twas Armistice, and I'm glad
"Cause now my paw'll come home.
Uncle Bob (that's maw's brother) got kilt,
An'when maw got the message, she just cried;
An last night when the whistles blew, she said
"I don't know what we'd done if paw had died."
My Paw's coming' home now,
In a week or two or three;
And I'll kiss him and look in his pockets,
Cause he'll bring home something to maw an' me.
Carmen Strange
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