{"id":1231,"date":"2012-10-30T15:08:29","date_gmt":"2012-10-30T15:08:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1231"},"modified":"2012-10-30T15:11:35","modified_gmt":"2012-10-30T15:11:35","slug":"the-fallen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.longkeshinsideout.co.uk\/?p=1231","title":{"rendered":"The Fallen"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the next couple of weeks Remembrance Sunday will once again be upon us.\u00a0 It is a very poignant time of year when we remember those who fell in all conflict.\u00a0 The wearing of the poppy dates back to a time just after the war when an American professor–Moina Michael first wore one and vowed to do so every year to remember those who perished in World War One.\u00a0 She also penned a poem–We Shall Keep the Faith–as a homage to Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae who had famously written “In Flanders Fields” in 1915, after the second Battle of Ypres.\u00a0 This poem was–and still is–one of the most quoted poems from the Great War—In Flanders fields the poppies blow..Between the crosses row on row….<\/em>Sadly John McCrae died of pneumonia\u00a0while still commanding Canadian Forces in France in January 1918.\u00a0 That war was supposed to be the war that would end all wars but history tells us a different story.\u00a0 Here we have a short poem by a regular contributor that alludes to the futility of all conflict whilst remembering the sacrifices made by many in 1914-1918.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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The Fallen<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is stillness now among those who made it back to home
\nThere is silence too\u2014deathly\u2014as they recall the madness\u2014all alone
\nRecall that only weeks before they floundered in the squalor and swore,
\nTo renounce the folly\u2014the waste\u2014the gore\u2014and an expectation to atone.<\/p>\n

At their eleventh hour they stand erect\u2014in line\u2014heads high\u2014eyes moist
\nThe corn poppy ablaze in scarlet proudly displayed upon their heaving breasts
\nA symbol that portrays their journey into the hellholes on foreign fields
\nMemories of unspeakable deeds that would put a paragon to the test.<\/p>\n

Flat caps replace tin hats and crutches substitute for guns
\nEmaciated men–aged before their time\u2014broken fathers\u2014brothers\u2014sons
\nEmpty stares and emptied hearts reflect the collective pain
\nBewildered by the notion that there was something there to gain.<\/p>\n

Explain those foolish judgments from the donkeys at the rear
\nThat led the lions to nothingness while they drank their cups of cheer
\nAnd clapped each other on the back or smoked their long cigars
\nWho care no more for a repulsive war and its everlasting scars.<\/p>\n

In the years ahead our treasured dead should be recalled and be revered
\nIn remembering them\u2014the fallen men\u2014we will shed our fill of tears
\nWe will think of those who chose to fight to honour King and Crown
\nWho paid the price and sacrificed their all on distant ground.<\/p>\n

A debt we owe\u2014and our thanks bestow to those who fell for good
\nAnd hope and pray in future days that conflict be removed When the sun sinks down and the last post sounds our thoughts are one and true
\nBrave soldier lads who gave their last\u2014WE WILL REMEMBER YOU.<\/p>\n

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