My English Teacher's Blog

 Today people in the USA celebrate Memorial Day. For some, it is a day to honour loved ones who have died serving their country. For others, the national holiday is the unofficial start of summer.
When is Memorial Day? This federal holiday is observed on the last Monday of May. Whether you want to honour a fallen comrade or celebrate peace, Memorial Day Weekend is a time for remembrance and thanksgiving.
Begun as a ritual of remembrance and reconciliation after the Civil War, by the early 20th century, Memorial Day was an occasion for more general expressions of memory, as ordinary people visited the graves of their deceased relatives, whether they had served in the military or not. It also became a long weekend increasingly devoted to shopping, family get-togethers, fireworks and trips to the beach.

GRASS
by: Carl Sandburg (1878-1967)

PILE the bodies high at Austerlitz and Waterloo,

Shovel them under and let me work--

I am the grass; I cover all.

 

And pile them high at Gettysburg

And pile them high at Ypres and Verdun.

Shovel them under and let me work.

Two years, ten years, and passengers ask the conductor:

What place is this?

Where are we now?

 

I am the grass.

Let me work. 

 



Carl Sandburg (January 6, 1878 – July 22, 1967) was an American writer and editor, best known for his poetry. He won three Pulitzer Prizes, two for his poetry and another for a biography of Abraham Lincoln.