Poem for Monday, Mount Vernon, The Parent Trap

Memorial Day
By William Henry Clay Dodson

Hither we come to scatter flowers
This thirtieth day of May,
Upon our fallen heroes' graves
On this Memorial Day;
We cherish now no bitter thoughts
In this fair land of ours,
But on all fallen heroes' graves
We come to scatter flowers.

The rank and file in North and South
Believed their cause was just;
We find upon each battle flag
Inscribed, "In God We Trust;"
And in this sunny land of ours,
Now sleeping side by side,
The Union Blue and Southern Gray
Lie buried where they died.

Since we have come to scatter flowers
This consecrated day,
We cannot cherish bitter thoughts
Toward those who wore the "Gray;"
Believing that their cause was right,
Freely their blood they shed;
Then, let us strew-alike-the graves
Of all our sacred dead.

And those who for the Union fought,
In scattering flowers to-day
On heroes' graves, would never dream
Of passing by the gray;
And heroes of the "Southern Cause,"
In paying homage true,
Will not forget the graves of those
Who wore the Union Blue.

Thrice welcome, then, this sacred day.
That binds our hearts anew;
Our country undivided stands,
For all-now love the Blue;
On resurrection day,
Linked arm in arm, we'll find the boys
Who wore the Blue and Gray.

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Since Daniel will be back in College Park working on my father's birthday, we spent most of Sunday with my parents, first at Mount Vernon, then out to dinner at Il Porto and back to my parents' house for birthday and graduation cake. We watched the introductory movie, took the house tour (with restored "new room"), and went to see the animals in the upper pens:















After we came home, I convinced Adam to watch The Parent Trap with us -- the remake with Lindsay Lohan, which I had never seen, though I saw the original in my youth decades ago, and was surprised how well I remembered some of the identical dialogue. Son's commentary was funnier than the movie, especially concerning the treatment of the fiancee.