[A Tribute from Butler, Pa.]
by Charles L. Cingolani
Did you feel the wave of sympathy
surging across the Pennsylvania line
and out to you,
the families left behind?
Oh, how we know--
for your boys were here
among ours,
in our streets jogging,
in cars, in shopping malls,
in our churches, at picnics,
and High School proms,
and not too long ago
on the Fourth of July
as eager boys on Main Street
watching soldiers passing by.
Even then they'd straighten
when the flag would catch their eye.
We watched them at gates
embracing you,
parents wives and families,
grandparents too
and girls who couldn't break loose,
watched them turn to leave
with head held high,
then at the ramp look back--
one last fleeting glance.
Today, twenty, they reported, have fallen--
snatched from us, our treasure plundered
lifeless on foreign clay.
Numb now we sit with you and weep
mingle our tears with yours in grief.
