Sitting here remembering days forgone
Coffee black with touch of Jack
As the creatures of the night
Seek their day time beds :

Slowly as night gives way to day
Through the mist of the coming dawn
I see the figures in the distance fields
Coming again to sit and chat :

Each passing year
At this appointed time
We sit and speak of times long past
Some of joy ; Some of pain
Some of living ; some sublime :

Woodstock ; Tramp ; Drake and Dew
Stephen White ;my brother Bill and Ghost came too
To see them now
Is to see them then
Young and bold with peaceful souls
Every year's longer before I see them again :

We hug ; chat ; smile and cry
Between the night
Till break of day
We live as one before we part ways :

Birds begin to sing
And squirrels begin to play
As the night time mist slowly rolls away
And soon the dawn of a new day :

As always I try to hide
The eternal clock that takes them away
But the portal of eternity slowly arrives
To escort them back to the other side :

For family and friends are waiting also
To pay respect ; chat and hug their souls
Yet my fiber yearns for days of old
My brothers and I with stories untold :

No matter how hard I hold them
No matter how hard I try
364 days till I see them again
To laugh ; hug ; joke and lie
Can't stay the tears from these old eyes ;

Painfully as my heart tears
Slowly they move towards the mist of dawn
Fading back from whence they came
Too soon ; too fast and they're gone
A lasting pain leaves me numb :

Woodstock turns and taps my head
C.C. ; As long as we are there
We can never be dead
Then shoulder to shoulder
Into the mist they disappear :

And so the wait of another year
Till we gather and all are near
Lonely are the days laid bare
Until I see you standing there :

Now 44 Memorial Days come and gone
Each passing year seems so much longer
Yet with each passing heartbeat
Brings me closer to the mist :

One day yonder in eternity's caress
Shall I take the walk eternal
Shoulder to shoulder ; arm in arm with my brother's band
Into the new realm ; we will delve
Leaving behind this mortal shell :

Till then I shall post guard
Coffee black and touch of Jack
And await the mist for your return
So we may laugh and cry and tell soldier's lies :

Memorial Day is everyday in this old heart
But for only one do we get to visit
Yet when I hear our song ; Iron Man
Will I know you're on your way :

Up and ready for our yearly day
Until the day ; I no longer post guard
But step away
And pass with you all to the eternal day :

Brothers Eternal :
C.C.