Arlington Rank upon rank they stand silent in the noonday sun; Faces lined, some lines erased by time; by pain; by loss. Paler yet they gleam by night, rigid ranks stretch to the sky fading into eternity. Were we to read the written lines, we'd find no color bar, no status symbol large or small-- perhaps a star or cross or stele; but they are all together there, alike and unified in earth, they stand forever tall. Years flutter by like falling leaves; the numbers always grow-- a garden of lives planted in the soil they served in time. Watered by their soldier blood, fertilized with their bones, our nation's flowers grow. k2001