Look at the news and tell me
that Remembrance Day is obsolete.
Look at the War memorials
listing brothers, fathers, sons
Relatives of many here today.
Look at your television’s daily
scenes of conflict, death, destruction.
Look at the local papers,
not just the UK dailies.
You’ll read of local folk who signed up for
a bit of adventure, perhaps to learn a trade.
Doing their bit with humanitarian aid;
Peacekeeping; protecting innocent victims
even when it puts them smack bang in
the middle of the conflict zone.
Look around at those with us today and see
living veterans of conflicts far and near
Twenty-somethings up to eighty-plus.
Look at how their memories haunt their eyes.
For them, Remembrance isn’t just one day
It’s today and tomorrow and all their days to come.
Look – with open eyes and heart, then
tell me Remembrance Day is obsolete.
Boakesey Closs
.
Boakesey is a former teacher, who lives on the Isle of Man and is the current (IXth) Manx Bard. She has been published locally and in the Places of Poetry anthology, Poetry for Mental Health and is in the Lancaster Litfest Poetry Mosaic. She is a stroke survivor and is physically challenged but it does not stop her from writing.
.