I find this line totally revolting:
"Up, up the long, delirious burning blue I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or even eagle flew."
Here is my poetic answer to that:
http://www.archivio-zeta.org/immagini/persiani/vela.JPG
It shows you the 'eagle's wing', the triumphant arrow on top of the Futa pass mountain, it is the monument which you reach after a tormentuous climb following the, at first first, long winding, and then, ever more narrowly spiralling steep path up the hill. The visitor can only venture short and very restricted glimpses on the adjacent war graves, the open view is constantly hindered and blocked by trees, rocks and a stone wall which runs alongside the path. This never allows him/her to see the whole cemitery. The visitor will also be shielded from the wind during his two km long climb and begin to sweat and suffer from the heat of the 'blue skies'. All the while he will see the 'eagle's wing' high above him in the distance.
It is only when he will reach the plateau, right on the top of the mountain, that he will be stepping out of the wind sheltering 'trench'. It is in this instant that he will be hit hard by gusts of wind and look up to the monument right above him and discover the the 'eagles wing' which he saw from the distance was never capable to 'fly'. It is broken. It doesn't rise up into the sky. The broken edge points down towards the graves. Which can only from here, from under the broken wing, be seen for the first time in their entirety. The 'delirious' spiral never 'topped the windswept heights with easy grace'. It was an illusion. There was never an 'eagle's wing. It has been always a broken arrow.
http://www.heinrich-haus.de/Futaweb/skizzefriedhof.jpg "The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819
I read the poems above figuratively, and the reference to God as an overarching spirt of one's choosing. And the final poem I view as transcendence to something greater.
The importance of the marking the day is to take a moment to reflect, not to celebrate militarism in any way.
Again, sorry to offend.
In general, I don't like anything that glorifies or, worse, celebrates war. That said, I consider honoring the dead to be somewhat of a different matter. It is the rulers who declare wars and the people who fight them. I don't have a problem remembering people who fought and gave their lives, even if their rulers weren't doing the right thing.
Maybe this makes no difference, I don't know, but my heart goes out to anyone who was caught up in these tragic events. And I do think it's important to remember. I think it's important to reflect on the human costs of political decisions and try to figure out how the hell to stop the powerful from doing this. Maybe we can eventually make language a complete impediment to understanding. -Hobbes
