Gettysburg Address

Johnny Reb was buried in a newly dug grave,

a family plot, gone now, the mansion, too,

burned in battle or collapsed with age.

He died and was buried there for the ideals

he held dear, values long held since birth,

ingrained enough to rise up against oppression,

under a new flag, seceding even as his forebears did

against an oppressive king, their voices unheard.

He died a hero’s death, respected, buried with honors,

for bravery, for sacrifices to a grand cause of freedom.

And he went where all heroes go, never knowing

how it ended, surrender and loss, his home

and his grave giving way to progress, a highway

speeding through, going nowhere, going everywhere,

or a high rise, a shopping mall, an unused parking lot,

vilified, offensive, a rebel to the nation.

He was a young man, then, idealistic, unifying

that nation still in his loss, his surrender of his life

for what he believed was right, believing enough to take up arms

against his brothers in blue for freedom, liberty and justice. 

These same ideals flowed as well through Yankee blood,

values long held since birth, ingrained, and lives sacrificed

to a grand cause of freedom, going too where heroes go,

never knowing; for life goes on, and progress moves us forward,

battles to be fought by idealistic youth armed today

as they were then, with their values ingrained since birth,

intact, believing: freedom, liberty and justice.