After worship on the Sunday following the massacre at Fort Hood
- three days before Veteran's day.
Veteran's Prayers
55 year old tears-
65 year old tears-
tumble off wizened cheeks
after detouring through wrinkled troughs
on old men's faces.
Memories of brothers lost
burst through scars
built of bravado over breaking hearts.
The machismo-dam
no longer can hold them back.
Violence in the news
wakens the beast-kept-quiet.
War with its senseless losses now
-was senseless even then.
No war will ever end all wars.
"If only ours had been the last."
Knowing they were duped-
wearied, aged, men salute
and utter quiet prayers
for peace, for peace, for peace.
- Rebecca Z. Brown
East Lincoln Christian Church