Remembrance Day 2006

It's 10.59
Out in the garden
Over the wall
The school band is playing
'The Last Post'
It always moves me
Deeply, and as
The gun goes off
I stop and bow my head
And I think of
The brave no-more-than-children
Some of them
And breadwinners
Loved by their mothers
And I see poppies and crosses
As far as the eye can see
And I hope their sacrifice
Was worth it
For us, the ungrateful
Wasters of resources
And slow-death killers
Of our earth
And I think of them
Choked by earth
Wondering who exactly
They were doing it for
Loyally
Unquestioningly
Unselfishly
And, by God, I hope
Somehow it was worth it.
But .. on balance
I think not ..
Not for them
But I am grateful
For their sacrifice ..
The gun sounds again
And the minutes are over
For another year.
And I remember them .. often
Not just on 11/11 at 11am