Remembrance Day

It is brutally cold, the wind sends
its probing fingers wherever it can
penetrate and there are gusts of sleet
soon to turn into a snowfall we've been
warned will be substantial. There's a
leaden sky over the forest canopy
lending a twilight atmosphere to the
forest interior where the trails are now
quite frozen. A fitting backdrop to this
day memorializing sorrow and the end
of the 'war to end all wars', though it
never did. A miserable day all around
nature commiserating with those who
mourn the dead, the displaced, the
wounded and the walking dead, all of
whom result from current conflicts
here and there across the globe in
humanity's never-ending disputes with
itself. But although this is a day of
miserable contemplation and the stern
landscape of bared branches leaving a
monochromatic grey-black I am humbled
by the sacrifices of those who lend their
lives in the battle for justice and liberty
leaving me to walk through crisp fall
leaves on the forest floor, unafraid and
free to live my life courtesy of their
unflagging personal sacrifice for justice.