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Open Poetry #36
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ice
Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404
Pennsylvania

0 posted 2005-08-13 11:06 AM


­
He will return home now
For all time, a soldier
Never a teacher-
Zippered
In plastic, after long flight
Out of a hot desert-
Storm-back
Into cool breezes,
That bless the hills of Liberty.

Burned by wars torch-
The eternal flame,
That no one seems
To knows how to quench!

Plug the purple holes
With sealing wax,
Paste over black-bruises
Make his skin pink,
Place his body
In a polished box-
Comb it- paint it, make
It look natural
Pretend he is asleep,
Play church music-
Erase fright from his face;

Knowing he will not wake
And tell you the truth...

Carry the body, life gone-
Wasted at whims
Of high command-
He swore
An oath to follow-
Orders as they chose;
Honor with stern face
But wash
With warm tears
What's placed
Beneath the cold stone..

Rain will dance on this grave
Its soft feet
Wearing away the name
Sketched here on rock-
Under green maples
Whose limbs will also wither
Eventually---
Flesh-leaves falling in summer-
Long before autumn
As his did, and does
Below from bones.

***************************************************

Note:
I lived very  near Liberty Pennsylvania (population 868) for a very long time...so I know this young mans family and share their loss, which I think of as a loss for all mankind.
*
Ryan Ostrom, 25, of Liberty, Tioga County, (Pennsylvania) was killed late Tuesday (August 9, 2005) in Habaniyah, 50 miles west of Baghdad, when he was hit by enemy small arms fire.....

Ostrom was a member of Co. B, 109th Infantry, based in Williamsport, Pa. The unit was deployed with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team to Iraq last month. His father, Scott Ostrom, had served for decades with Company B of the 109th Infantry.

Ryan Ostrom, who had been in Iraq for a month, had been studying to become a teacher.
© 2005 The Associated Press-April 11, 2005- CBS-3 Philadelphia
­

© Copyright 2005 ford hume - All Rights Reserved
Sunshine
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since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
1 posted 2005-08-13 11:12 AM



ctowen
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since 2001-10-18
Posts 2286
Green Mountains of VT
2 posted 2005-08-13 11:13 AM


..... it's time for all to come home,
             it has been long enough.

    this is a beautiful sentiment ...
           wish each and everyone it touches true peace ...


  CT

Greeneyes
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Member Rara Avis
since 2000-09-09
Posts 9903
In Your Poetic Mind
3 posted 2005-08-13 11:19 AM


Rain will dance on this grave
Its soft feet''''

my hope is that you will share this with his family, a loving write, to honor a fallen solider....

In your light I learn how to love
In your beauty how to make poems
You dance inside my chest where
no one sees you and that sight becomes this art

Startime55
Member Elite
since 2003-04-05
Posts 2148
Alberta, Canada
4 posted 2005-08-13 11:22 AM


One can't help but be touched by this beautiful tribute to Ryan...a painful but needed read...*big hugs*

Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
5 posted 2005-08-13 11:52 AM


Ford

Thank you for writing this, for Ryan and his family, and for anyone who reads it.  

inkedgoddess
Member Rara Avis
since 2002-11-19
Posts 7392
Ohio
6 posted 2005-08-13 12:00 PM


rain will dance
petals line the casket
a mother weeps
on the white house lawn
but the deaf march
to the beat of greed

when will the world wake up dear ice?

froggy
Senior Member
since 2003-06-23
Posts 1893
Michigan
7 posted 2005-08-13 12:28 PM


For Ryan
Treasured Season

For everything there is an appointed season,
and time for everything under heaven-
A time for sharing,
a time for caring.
A time for loving,
a time for giving;
A time remembering,
a time for parting.
You have made everything
beautiful in its time
For everything you do
remains forever.
-Unknown

Ford,
  You done a great honor by remembering a young man who had a long life a head of him only to have it taken too soon.
Please give my condoles to Ryan's family,let them know they are in my prayers.
Hugs to you Ford.
Love,

garysgirl
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Member Laureate
since 2002-09-29
Posts 19237
Florida, USA
8 posted 2005-08-13 01:24 PM


He will return home now
For all time, a soldier
Never a teacher-
Zippered
In plastic, after long flight
Out of a hot desert-
Storm-back
Into cool breezes,
That bless the hills of Liberty.


My heart goes out to all.....
Hugs,
Ethel


ice
Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404
Pennsylvania
9 posted 2005-08-13 04:07 PM


Thank you for your beautiful replies...each one is cherished.

I have a son that is the same age as Ryan was...
Saying "was" makes me shake a little inside...for his age will forever remain the same, We all have a history of numbers...Now it is only those left behind that will change...To become strangers to what they were..only able to dream about the one, and what he was, before he left, before his time..

Wendell Berry says it way better than I can...

*"In a dream I meet
my dead friend. He has,
I know, gone long and far,
and yet he is the same
for the dead are changeless.
They grow no older.
It is I who have changed,
grown strange to what I was."

(Wendell Berry excerpt from "A meeting"

Again, thank you all for the heartfelt replies...

-----------ice/ford
   ><>


Gentle Spirit
Member Patricius
since 2000-10-09
Posts 13989

10 posted 2005-08-13 05:28 PM


Ford I can not begin to tell you how this piece moved me.  I hope, that you may share these words with Ryans family as you have with us.

This touches ...

deeply.

yesterday is gone
tomorrow doesn't exist

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean
since 2000-02-02
Posts 27738

11 posted 2005-08-13 05:40 PM


I have to confess something that makes me feel ashamed.

I cringe when I watch the news, I jump when the phone rings, and when I hear news of another Marine killed in action, I scrunch up my eyes and think:

"Please not Nick."

A total disregard of another family's pain, and I feel ashamed, but oh, I want my nephew home safe, and ALIVE.

*tears*

shameful tears, m'friend

and thank you for saying what I so selfishly could not.

miscellanea
Member Elite
since 2004-06-24
Posts 4060
OH
12 posted 2005-08-13 05:52 PM


This really hit me.  The war weighs upon me greatly and has for some time.  Last week, someone very dear to me lost his life there, too.  Hence my poem, Wet on Dry, was written.  I wish you and his family my condolences.

        miscellanea

Midnitesun
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since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
13 posted 2005-08-13 06:49 PM


oh, when will we stop having all these senseless heartaches!
Hugs and strength to you and Ryan's family.

passing shadows
Member Empyrean
since 1999-08-26
Posts 45577
displaced
14 posted 2005-08-13 07:02 PM


Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Kaos
Member
since 2001-08-02
Posts 317
between space and time
15 posted 2005-08-13 07:05 PM


"Wearing away the name
Sketched here on rock-
Under green maples
Whose limbs will also wither
Eventually---
Flesh-leaves falling in summer-
Long before autumn"

beautiful, a very touching piece.  War is a terrible thing to lose those you love to, my deepest sympathies to the family.

" Breathe life, for you are not alone"
- Killswitch Engage

Paul Wilson
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Member Elite
since 2002-07-07
Posts 4711
United States
16 posted 2005-08-13 07:15 PM


ice...A sad loss that didn't have too be.

It's time for this too stop so the future leaders of America have a future...Paul

~~To share my poems with you is to share my heart with you~~
Paul

iliana
Member Patricius
since 2003-12-05
Posts 13434
USA
17 posted 2005-08-13 07:53 PM


So much senseless loss, Ice.  I am sorry for your loss and Ryan's family.   ...jo
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA
18 posted 2005-08-13 08:30 PM


I doubt that i have ever read a more stirring tribute. I know you did not write it for personal praise but, rather, as a tribute to your friend but you did so exceedingly well. Every fallen soldier has friends like you and families like his. War is such an incredible waste....I pray for the day humanity realizes that.
stevebrklynnyc
Member
since 2004-01-04
Posts 292
GA, Camden
19 posted 2005-08-13 11:57 PM


A wonderfull tribute to a brave man.  Thought's and prayers are with you and his family.  Maybe one day this mess will be over.
nn
Member
since 2000-09-18
Posts 75

20 posted 2005-08-14 07:15 AM



Ceinwyn
Member Elite
since 2000-07-09
Posts 2175
VA
21 posted 2005-08-14 09:34 AM


I admit for the first time..this was hard to read, my heart and prayers go out to his family as well as everybody's family whose child/spouse is away...I can't even begin to describe the emotion I'm feeling....

If at first you don't succeed destroy all the evidence that you tried.

ice
Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404
Pennsylvania
22 posted 2005-08-14 09:54 AM


A feeling of gratitude, happens when a writer is understood...I am truely grateful for these replies....

I have dualed here with words, trying to cut through the hype with a sword of organized emotion..trying to spread his blood evenly over the rough stones...hoping any reader might bend and touch a finger to it, bring it to their lips and taste its salt...

Many of you have done this,
Thank you for saying what it tasted like to you...

Peace----------ice/ford
        ><>

Mistletoe Angel
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Posts 32816
Portland, Oregon
23 posted 2005-08-14 05:24 PM




(big angel friendship hugs) God Bless You, dearest friend, your poetry has always been special to me and a treasure to Passions, and I'm most sorry I have missed some of your wonderful writes recently being the busy bee I am! (sigh) This is a most genuine, universally-conscious write that really delves to heart how war affects families and cultures most of all, and how unfortunate mankind continues to resort to more violence and retaliation as an excuse, an answer to other such tragedies! (sad sigh) God Bless Cindy Sheehan for the example she is setting out there in Crawford, an example of standing up for the families of America and having us understand more than ever how such senseless wars like Iraq affect families and communities worldwide! It's just a shame that Bush himself can't spare an hour of his vacation to go over and talk with Cindy, a most patriotic American mother whose own child served in Iraq! (sad sigh) God Bless You, sweet friend, let's pray this war can end as soon as possible, we all love you so much! You have such a beautiful heart, sweet Ford, thank you for sharing!



May love and light always shine upon you!

Love,
Noah Eaton

"If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other"

Mother Teresa

nakdthoughts
Member Laureate
since 2000-10-29
Posts 19200
Between the Lines
24 posted 2005-08-14 08:42 PM


beautifully written  from the heart...

my nephew (my  sister's youngest) has made it back from 2 tours so far...but  he may  have to go again...so I know the pain and fear of waiting for the return, never knowing
how that will be.

M


icebox
Member Elite
since 2003-05-03
Posts 4383
in the shadows
25 posted 2005-08-14 10:13 PM


There is an eloquence to your words and a purity in your thoughts.  Grief and understanding are for the living.  Without the intrusion of politics, the rhetoric of assent or dissent, this soldier simply deserves respect.  You have honored him.
Mysteria
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since 2001-03-07
Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada
26 posted 2005-08-14 11:54 PM


This stirs a place inside of me that can not find the right words Ice to possibly show as much respect as you have to this young soldier.  I truly hope you send this and the responses to his family.  I know this for sure, as a mother of a son,  I can tell you I read your response below, and tasted salt.  The salt I hope I never have to feel like Ryan's Step-Mom, Annie, and she gets my sincere sympathy, as does the entire family.  God bless him and all those that have lost their lives in any war.

I have dualed here with words, trying to cut through the hype with a sword of organized emotion..trying to spread his blood evenly over the rough stones...hoping any reader might bend and touch a finger to it, bring it to their lips and taste its salt...

Copperbell
Senior Member
since 2003-11-08
Posts 956

27 posted 2005-08-15 12:21 PM




thank you for sharing this.

LeeJ
Member Patricius
since 2003-06-19
Posts 13296

28 posted 2005-08-15 10:07 AM


I'm very sorry for your loss Ford, God rest his soul...this poem, gives a whole new meaning to the catch phrase, close to home...
doesn't it...

A grand tribute that is definately heavy on the wings of reality, very sadly so...hang in there buddy...

vandana
Deputy Moderator 5 Tours
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since 1999-10-22
Posts 10463
USA
29 posted 2005-08-16 07:38 PM



JamesMichael
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-16
Posts 33336
Kapolei, Hawaii, USA
30 posted 2005-08-16 07:51 PM


Beautiful words you have written for Ryan...James
ice
Member Elite
since 2003-05-17
Posts 3404
Pennsylvania
31 posted 2005-08-16 10:38 PM


­
­­Now I lay this song to rest
In the chambers of my heart,
That's quiet now except for normal beat;
Unlike when this piece was written-
Under stress that followed news,
This lads had stopped, that he had fallen.

Thank you, poet friends
I cannot say in strong enough words,
How much your comments mean to me..

----------------ice/ford
       ><>
­

littlewing
Member Rara Avis
since 2003-03-02
Posts 9655
New York
32 posted 2005-08-17 09:19 AM


agreeing with icey up there . . .
there have been too many who have passed from Buffalo alone.  

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