Overdue Honor

Three, twenty nine, nineteen seventy three.

For some the end,

but not to the many who met death

in a foreign land many a year before.

Yet, also, the beginning

for those who came home,

who managed to endure,

who have learned to carry on,

with their scars in tow in the now,

learning, trying to live their future.

For others, just a date,

no end nor beginning,

as the “ then” repeats itself in the now,

again and again.

All, now nationally honored.