The same bird is calling

Over and over;

Our children laugh by

The garden wall;

The same bees hum in

The purple clover –

Oh, nothing has

Changed in my world at

all!

The same wind lifts and

The same wind creases

The starched white cur-

tains like drifting foam;

Only my life has shat-

tered to pieces,

Only the hearth has gone

from the home.

“LEST WE FORGET”

Note: This poem was kept in a note book belonging to Elodie Burke Gardner. The Gardner’s, Ward Sr. & Elodie’s, four sons were casualties of World War II. Two killed the action, the other two severely wounded. All four of these casualties happened in the European Theater of Operations and all in the unbelievably short period of 108 day. We’d like to thank Evo G Facchine for introducing this poem to us in his articles of the Gardner sons also posted on this website.