where tender grasses wave © margaret griswold-scheiding
the flowers are so pretty
where people left them there
the reds and blues and yellows
their colors everywhere
cheer up this place of sorrow
each one a silent prayer
i’ve watched them come and go away
for many a long old year
arriving like the tide they come
in every eye a tear
for war continues on and on
and sends more soldiers here
i hear the quiet weeping
of ev’ry grieving mother
and quiet sadness that is shared
by husband son and brother
and wife and daughter left bereft
consoling one another
they walk on by and do not see me
in this vale of stone
i linger near yet stay apart
forever all alone
for i’m a soldier buried here
my name in death unknown
i used to hope someone would come
with flowers for my grave
missing and rememb’ring me
because my life i gave
and pause beside my weathered stone
where tender grasses wave
it’s been so long time has erased
and left no memory
of a soldier dead and gone
his life a mystery
and no one ever lingers near
no one remembers me
i think i can recall a day
a moment long ago
a little girl drew near and paused
but why i do not know
and left one daisy sweet and plain
and then i watched her go
many many years passed by
then came that sunny day
a woman came to visit me
and did not go away
she sat upon the ground nearby
i think i heard her pray
and then i think i heard my name
a whisper soft and low
i think she may have wept for me
but i don’t really know
she left one daisy sweet and plain
and then i watched her go
oh may there come a day dear lord
when men no longer die
upon some distant battle field
beneath a darkened sky
and let there be no more of them
the unknown such as i
