The National Debt
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Saw a single poppy in the field when walking the dog this morning. It was like a scar, a wound , set against the lush green background of the rising sap of summer. Got me thinking that 2018 marks 100 years since the cessation of world war 1 . I know it’s not the eleventh hour of the eleventh month but I penned this in memory of, and gratitude to, the men and women whose enormous sacrifice earned us the freedom which is the bedrock of our democracy today :
No mind was ever meant to bear
That torment, pain and sorrow.
In that cacophony of hell,
Their lives forged our tomorrow.
Called to duty, through their service,
Through their sacrifice and loss,
The foundations for our future
Were fashioned from their cross.
Far beyond the bounds of nature
Their mortal frames were tested
In bloodied, flea ridden trenches
Their fractured bodies rested.
Those bodies now, in foreign lands
Beneath fields of marble crosses
Bear testament to sacrifice
And countless wartime losses.
May future generations
That break upon the shore,
Not forget the pains they suffered
Nor the mental scars of war.
Look upon the scarlet poppy,
See the blood amongst the wheat
Know the quantum of their sacrifice
Times passage won’t deplete
To those that gave their future
We all owe this National Debt
The terms are very simple
Just that we must not forget.
.
Copyright © Mike Miller | Year Posted 2018
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