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Cenotaph Memories

And silence fell around the stone buildings,
As thousands gathered to remember
And some to forget, friends and family lost,
No longer there to support,
Every heartbeat, a tear through time,
Every tear drop, a rip across the universe,
And thousands gathered at the Cenotaph,
Just to remember, give thanks, and live;

Johnny left in thirty-nine, France is where he died,
Fred departed on Dunkirk's sands, waves washed in blood,
And friends tumbled and died,
Stepping across the border to glory heights,
While across the sea, mother waited, praying;

And silence fell across the land as the bells rang again,
While memories remembered, dreams saw the past,
Bringing tears of sadness, grief, and loss,
Tommy gave his all in Singapore,
Andy froze in the Arctic war, with a dozen mates,
As the ship went down, a blaze, lost goods for days,
George earned a medal for courage in battle,
But never received it, buried in the soil of France;

And mother prayed, pleading with the Father,
Bring my son home, save my daughter,
As bombs crashed down, blitzing the town,
And Muriel was dug out of her wrecked home,
Families buried together in mass tombs;

There were battles for Britain, France, and the world,
Everywhere a calamitous whirl that deafened the silence,
Connecting every mother's heart as they prayed,
Each child fighting in their diverse ways,
All giving lives for a hoped-for better day.
America joined in forty-one, bringing gum, and nylons,
Finaly a light was seen, but still the lists grew,
Now mothers in the States prayed with those here;

And as the war progressed, more loss, more tears,
Stew from New York gave his life in a Liberator,
Along with his buddies, over Bremen,
And mothers received the telegram, falling tears,
Rising screams of prayer, why? Why?

And hundreds more Tommy’s and Stew’s,
Along with their brothers of multiple hues,
Gave up there all on Normandy’s shore,
While dozens more attempted to shorten the war
By jumping into Arnhem, open the back door;

So, all gave some, and some gave all,
As Europe's soil swallowed many lives
While Arnhem, and Caen, all crumbled,
Until the final day eighth of May,
Churchill announced, the war is done!

And thousands gathered, silence in cities far and wide,
Flags at half-mast to remember those who did not survive,
The civilian and the military, all buried in line,
And cenotaphs declare the nations memory,
And their thanksgiving, for the sacrifice of many,
Made to bring peace for eighty years gone,
There are no words that can ever bring those loved and lost,
Back again, yet memories ring loud,
While stood in the crowd, many tears shed,
As words and prayers said,
While we remember the names of those we know,
Eighty years after, with many now so few,
And time will never erase the remembrance of the dead,
Given so freely, that we might stand together,
And say thanks be to God, for this gift of life.
We have much to thank him for.

(C)Steve Gregory 2025
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