IMPRESSIVE, IF INCONGRUOUS... (Words about Dudley's Boer War Memorial...)

 Impressive, If Incongruous…

(Dudley’s Boer War Memorial…)

It rises uncomfortably above the jumble of graves,

At one edge of Dudley’s cemetery, a bleak space

In the heart of the Black Country’s jumble.

Yet its drama displays kinship and grace,

For an infantryman, brandishing a rifle, guards

A casualty, a comrade, a bugler, in the face

 Of enemy fire. Protection of the fallen, indeed,

For of fear in the rifleman’s expression, there isn't a trace…

Pete Ray

12th February 2023 

I drove round the cemetery to locate the memorial, which is rather remarkable given its position, surrounded by family plots, simple gravestones and other, rather more elaborate monuments.

Somehow though, the memorial seems to rise above the solemnity and depression of death and illustrates classic friendship and companionship during the 2nd Boer War…