Monday, 25 December 2023

TRUCE? A Christmas Day poem...

 TRUCE?



A simple enough icon:

Carved hands gripped in strife’s peace,

Sleeves confirming an equality,

An understanding, a tension’s release…


A simple enough meaning:

Carved hands shake on a mere truce,

Grasps knowing the reality,

When the next shells will cut death loose…


Pete Ray


This memorial at the National Arboretum was special, for I believe that my grandfather was posted to the region in December 1914, with the Royal Warwickshires. I have no idea whether he witnessed any of the handshakes, or the alleged football match…


The badge on the memorial’s British sleeve is a Royal Warwickshire emblem.


I never met my two grandfathers… 

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