During the high school prayer service for all veterans who have served and are currently serving our nation, three seniors expressed their gratitude for the veterans’ commitment. Each of the three wrote poems honoring and thanking our heroes:

“Protection”

By: Kristina Kennedy

Last year my dad gifted me a jacket

It came from his time in the army

And he looked at me, and then at it

And you could see the memories rushing back

How brave he must have been

To pack up and leave

Willing to risk his life at a moment’s notice

For those around him

His jacket, following him through all of it

As protection

And as a reminder of what he stood for

And in times when my courage falters,

I will think of my father

And pull his jacket close

As protection

As a reminder of what I stand for

As a reminder of all those who are courageous enough to protect us.

“Peace”

By Emily Rodriguez 

“Let there be peace on Earth

And let it begin with–”

Wait

How about

Just let it begin

At all

Because I’m finding it hard to believe

That the effort of one little

Me

Can cut it

Because hundreds

Thousands

Have died

Have been ruined

To make their own existence

Unnecessary

How selfless that is

And how difficult

It must be

To continue hoping

Peace is a communal effort

Violence begets violence

So lets not beget

Or forget

Any of them

“A Muse on our Veterans”

By: KeTaira Phillips

I know I would be terrified

To do what they do

Walking into foreign lands

Not know when exactly when they’ll

Be able to return

If they return

To see family and friends

But they do it anyway

And use those same people

As a motivation to keep going

I must be a coward

Compared to them

Who bravely  stand up

And fight for

“Liberty and Justice for all”

We “Pledge allegiance to the flag”

But they dedicate their lives

And fight for the flag

They are the best patriots of all.

Indeed I must be pathetic

Whenever I see one in uniform

I never know how to thank them

Even though I want to say something

In my eyes

They are like nobility

And I admire them from afar

But every now and then

I give a shy smile and a wave

And they return it with the same sincerity

And I remember they are Americans

Just like us.