We will Remember.
Silent now
Thunder of guns faded
no shouts or screams to remember
the ones whose footsteps lingered in muddy fields.
Nothing here
until poppy-seeds buried
come to flower in blood-soaked clay.
And poets, seeking to soften loss of so many, too soon,
Saw each petal, flower, and stem as soldiers standing to mourn.
Not just the fields
Warfare blights the deserts, the skies and sea.
Countless men, fathers, brothers, sons
Women, too, have paid with blood and sorrow
Children plucked from homes
communities shattered, bombed, derided-
Where is the Dove of Peace?
If only
all war were just
If only
war were no more.
Blood-red poppies
from the battlefields
tell the story of courage and loss.
We will remember
we will honour their memory
we will grieve their passing
and thankfully receive freedom,
not to be taken carelessly or held in scorn.
We will remember
the ones who never came home-
and those who came back changed and lost.
Blind and maimed, with empty eyes,
and shadowed thoughts.
We will remember.
A poppy worn in remembrance,
in hope of lasting peace,
a yearning for justice and fairness for all.
A poppy worn for what has been
and for what, we pray, may not come again.
Now for widow, orphan, refugee and victim
may there be hope of peace
of safety, of a home where war does not call.
May sword be re-cycled
and rifle laid aside
and tanks and planes and battleships
fall into disuse until they rust
and war shall be no more.
Then the blood-red poppy
shall be left to grow in peace.
We will remember.
(Copyright Richard Starling 10th Nov 2020)
Look, See, Pray 