I grew up in a family filled with veterans, from my own father to all seven of my uncles.
Some had lived through horrors I heard whispers about and even learned about from a book, but not a single one of them ever spoke to our generation about their experiences. There were no war stories spoken aloud in our family, but the stories were written on faces, in personalities and for some, in the ways they tried to cope with whatever they carried on the inside. The draft for Vietnam ended just months before I was eligible, but I saw friends ahead of me being called up. Over the ensuing years I had befriended men who, I learned in time, were veterans from the Gulf and Vietnam wars. Some of those are among my closest friends today. When I became an interfaith chaplain and pastor for a small and mighty New Hampshire Unitarian Universalist church, rather late in life, it became part of my calling to support others who were bearing the weight of their own accumulated personal and family trauma, and fear and worry about war past, present and future. On the occasions of each Veterans Day and Memorial Day I am called to express empathy and gratitude, and honor service while, at once, holding in light the profound and horrific cost of warfare. This song grew from that challenge, partnered with thoughtful, discourse with my veteran friends, and observations and contemplation about war and military service in all forms and under diverse conditions, since boyhood. I drafted lyrics with the objective to be as inclusive of those diverse conditions and individualized experiences of engagement as I could be. I have shared my song with the veterans I am closest to, for their responses and feedback. Inspired by their blessings, encouragement and participation, I am sending it forth beyond the bounds of my church and my community, with the hope that it brings recognition, comfort, peace, remembrance… whatever gifts a worried or wounded listener might find herein.
Some of those veteran friends are in the twenty-voice, individually recorded chorus for this recording (Al also contributed piano), along with several other family members of veterans and other thoughtful, compassionate people. For me, this has become more a creation of Spirit than it is a creation of Music.
- Craig Werth
lyrics
“We Remember” by Craig Werth, November 10, 2018
(recorded October 2021)
We remember the soldiers who were called to war,
never to know what that war was for,
we remember the ones who tried to fight for good,
we remember the ones who did the best they could.
We remember those, who chose to go,
and those caught in the current of a wartime flow,
we remember the soldiers who were forced to fight,
under cloud and shadow toward an endless night.
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember.
We remember the soldiers who had gone astray,
were broken inside, still are today,
we remember the soldiers who came back home,
we remember the many who are still unknown.
We remember the soldiers and their families,
the cratered fields and the splintered trees,
the sacred music flowing high and sweet,
over lives gone missing, and the soul’s retreat.
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember.
We remember the soldiers who set down their guns,
to use both arms to save someone,
and they who illuminates a dismal place,
as they shine a smile for a frightened face.
We remember soldiers who, like you or me,
might take up arms so reluctantly.
we remember the soldiers who dream of peace,
of an end to war, of the dove’s release,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember.
We remember the soldiers made of hope and grit,
who fought their way back, to find a fit,
we remember the soldiers made of stone and clay,
we remember them all, as we sing today.
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember.
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember,
We remember, we remember.
credits
released October 29, 2021
Craig Werth: lyrics and music, guitar, lead vocal
Craig Werth is a singer-songwriter from New Hampshire. He is available for concerts, workshops, and as an
officiant/composer/musician for services and ceremonies.
Craig serves as pastor at Nottingham Community Church (UU).
He teaches for the Chaplaincy Institute of Maine (ChIME) and serves as artist-in-residence and facilitator at Krempels Center - in support of people living with brain injury....more
beautiful songs with rich, authentic accompaniment. A fine tribute to both the Gaelic language and Americana. I make a tiny contribution with dulcimer, but there's a star line-up of artists here. Craig Werth
Guy is simply brilliant. This collection demonstrates his range of talents and potent writing and arranging. He also draws great talent from his great community of dazzling artist friends. It's a gem. Craig Werth
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Recorded live at St Buryan Church, the latest from Sarah McQuaid is a showcase for the simple power of voice & guitar. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 16, 2021
