A poem written and performed for Remembrance Day, 2015 and requested by the Chaplaincy at HMP Highpoint. Written to be accessable to all, I hope, with some simple, if subtle, anti-war messages.
Poppy
Look on the poppy, red and black
Remembrance of those that never came back
From far-flung fields in Flanders and France
And the wounded and weary, chosen by Chance
The red reminds us of the blood that spills
In foreign valleys and on distant hills
Whenever men are called to fight
For King or country, wrong or right
The black reminds us of the mud
On which the shells and rockets thud
And the grey and gruesome graves that hold
The bodies of those too brave or bold
The petals around the centre spread
Remind us of leaders and the led
Together trained, by brotherhood bound
Dispersed, a target for a sniper’s round
Think of those men that for us give
Their lives, so young, that we might live
In prosperous peace within these shores
Far from the fear of foreign wars