"Respect. Honor. Remember."

It's still Friday, isn't it? I've been meaning to post this edition of Poetry Friday all day but then I got sucked in by a couple of Lifetime movies and before I knew it, the whole day was gone. But I wanted to make sure that everyone knew that this week has been National Police Week. You still have one more day to show your support by tying a blue ribbon around the antenna of your car or replacing your porch light with a blue lightbulb. But if you really want to show your support for police officers you can come over and wash my husband's uniforms and cook him dinner. I--I mean he--would really appreciate that.


And maybe you could mow the yard, too? That would be really nice.

A Nation's Strength by Ralph Waldo Emerson

What makes a nation's pillars high
And it's foundations strong?
What makes it mighty to defy
The foes that round it throng?

It is not gold. Its kingdoms grand
Go down in battle shock;
Its shafts are laid on sinking sand,
Not on abiding rock.

Is it the sword? Ask the red dust
Of empires passed away;
The blood has turned their stones to rust,
Their glory to decay.

And is it pride? Ah, that bright crown
Has seemed to nations sweet;
But God has struck its luster down
In ashes at his feet.

Not gold but only men can make
A people great and strong;
Men who for truth and honor's sake
Stand fast and suffer long.

Brave men who work while others sleep,
Who dare while others fly...
They build a nation's pillars deep
And lift them to the sky.

Law Enforcement Memorial Service 2009