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Memorial Day poem: The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak

By George Kolbenschlag

This poem, by Archibald MacLeish, should speak to all of us and give us pause this Memorial Day. It is not a day of celebration, it's a time to remember the young (and not too young) men and women who gave their lives to keep this country a land where we can both celebrate the good times and, at other times, listen to those who can no longer speak.

As MacLeish says in his poem, These men and women have left us their deaths. We have to give their deaths their meaning.

The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not Speak
By Archibald MacLeish
The young dead soldiers do not speak.
Nevertheless, they are heard in the still houses:
who has not heard them?
They have a silence that speaks for them at night
and when the clock counts.
They say: We were young. We have died.
Remember us.
They say: We have done what we could
but until it is finished it is not done.
They say: We have given our lives but until it is finished
no one can know what our lives gave.
They say: Our deaths are not ours: they are yours,
they will mean what you make them.
They say: Whether our lives and our deaths were for
peace and a new hope or for nothing we cannot say,
it is you who must say this.
We leave you our deaths. Give them their meaning.
We were young, they say. We have died; remember us.




This story was posted on 2025-05-25 20:29:25
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