FRAGILE FREEDOMS
Lost in France,
Resting
'neath a simple cross,
Just name,nationality and rank;
Giving of life,was his loss.
At home,
A breaking,aching heart;
A sweetheart's pain;
Her emptiness
was another's gain.
In memory
fading go
As echoing years slip by,
And still her tears flow;
Vivid yet
her anguish sigh.
Forgotten,forfeit
and for what?
freedom frailties,fragile,
Such ideas still beguile;
T'was ever thus,
the peasant soldier's lot.
REPOST FROM 2007
Here, where the sky is so close,
the deep shadows of the hill have
taken away our great uncle
A family love,
conciliator,
firm of authority,
Shield of wisdom.
We weep to usher gladness of comfort
Thereafter, we will pray:
Perpetual dew
through the Mercy of God,
that Impeccable care,
Tranquility, glory from Grace,
Love and affection, guardianship
unto our faithful ancestry
Blessedness of Eternal repose
Alav ha-shalom
In Arras field he watched that day
A flash of light against the grey,
High explosives whistled all around
And fallen thousands filled the ground.
Kentish man against the wall,
He had defended to the last;
A fleeting life--
So briefly did it pass.
One of the Lost generation of World War ONE 1918