A Colored Photo
(A Memorial Day Poem)
a few years ago
while visiting
a friend of mine
born in 1943
in Alabama
to a 16 year old girl
and a young soldier
fighting for his country
I saw hanging
on the wall
a black and white photo
of handsome soldiers
now ghosts from WWII
He pointed
at a soldier seated
in the third row
a handsome young
man in his early twenties
and said it was his father
until then I had never seen
soldiers of this ilk
because of wrong laws
of segregation
in the days when
it was okay to die for your country
but not to use the same
doors
toilets
schools
or sit at the same counter
and you could only sit
in the back of the bus
and so many other every day atrocities
I stared a little longer
thinking how could we have
a separate army
filled with soldiers
so brave
proud
and strong
defend us
and protect us
when we weren’t
willing to do the same
tags: best| Memorial Day| poems| activism| colored army| World War II| soldiers| segregation| Youtube| Cindi Silva| Cindy Silva| holiday poems|
