Pet Peeve

I have a pet peeve.  In the USA today is a national holiday.  It's Memorial Day.  The purpose of the day is to remember those who have died in service to our country.  It is not a day to remember all veterans.  That day is Veterans Day.  It is not a day set aside to remember lost loved ones.  I miss my grandpa too, and I wish several loved ones were still alive.  They aren't.  Death is a part of life, that is a fact, not a reason for taking a day off from work.  Memorial Day is about those who died in military service for you and me.  I'm not much of one for poems.  In this one a dead lad has a chance to talk with his old friend.  A.E Housing writing embodies what Memorial Day brings to my mind. 

'Is my team ploughing,
That I was used to drive
And hear the harness jingle
When I was man alive?'

Ay, the horses trample,
The harness jingles now;
No change though you lie under
The land you used to plough.

'Is football playing
Along the river shore,
With lads to chase the leather,
Now I stand up no more?'

Ay, the ball is flying,
The lads play heart and soul;
The goal stands up, the keeper
Stands up to keep the goal.

'Is my girl happy,
That I thought hard to leave,
And has she tired of weeping
As she lies down at eve?'

Ay, she lies down lightly,
She lies not down to weep:
Your girl is well contented.
Be still, my lad, and sleep.

'Is my friend hearty,
Now I am thin and pine,
And has he found to sleep in
A better bed than mine?'

Yes, lad, I lie easy,
I lie as lads would choose;
I cheer a dead man's sweetheart,
Never ask me whose.

Sgt. Bob, rest easy, and thank you.