Sunday, 11 November 2018

A POEM FOR ARMISTICE DAY, 2018...

The Parcel, The Infantryman: 
A Poem For Armistice Day, 2018…

A parcel, incongruous,
Wrapped, addressed, posted and franked
Was signed for, sorted, stamped and delivered through a front door;
But its torn brown paper wrapping was soon discarded, 
The sent gift broken, spilled:
A triviality dismembered and soon forgotten…

An infantryman, anonymous,
Kitted out, numbered and posted to France
Was signed on, recruited, stamped and delivered to the Front’s War;
But its ripped brown uniform would soon be discarded,
The life spent, broken, killed:
A casualty remembered and never forgotten…

Pete Ray
11th November 2018

Like a parcel delivered as a gift perhaps to a child, who might cast aside the wrapping and then maybe damage and throw the gift away, a World War 1 infantryman’s fate might not have been too different…


Except that he would be remembered and not forgotten…  

THE IMAGES ARE FROM THE WAR MEMORIAL IN NEWLYN, CORNWALL...



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