Remembrance Day Poem: Giving Everything

As conflict rumbled on

Each nation's peace was gone

Each soldier stumbled on

And no more light shone. 

Though right there at the start

With families torn apart

There was hope within their heart: 

An optimism chart...

But ticked off one by one

The promise to return

Turned into "it is done."

"We give and then we learn." 

They learnt that this was not

What they thought that it would be

In the trenches, they forgot

The light they'd hoped to see.

The light that promised victory

And swiftly coming home

In sacrifice for you and me

Toward No-man's land they roam.

What must they be thinking

Praying through their tears? 

In mud, their boots were sinking

And this went on for years. 

At home, the letters flowing in

Another life was lost

The weeping of the knowing kin

For such a human cost!

Freedom is the dearest treasure

And the love with which they fought

Is something that we cannot measure

Nor comprehend in thought.

Just as they gave all they had

Jesus paid the greatest price

We're free, ransomed, royally clad

Thanks to Jesus' sacrifice.

There's nothing in this broken world

That people have gone through

That God - in His love unfurled - 

Doesn’t know too. 

Remembering as we do

The soldiers in their suffering

We know the greatest call is to

Give our everything.