Two poems for Remembrance Day:
* The Poppy
This was written for the Chaplaincy at HMP Highpoint North, probably in late 2015. A deliberate one-pager that was posted on the wall of the chapel, distributed and read aloud to various denominations and even sent to the British Legion – or so I was told.
* One Day of Peace
I had intended to translate, imitate or reflect in some way the great song by French poet Georges Brassens – ‘La Guerre de 14-18’. But, however I looked at it and worked on it, I felt that if I were to honestly impart his ideas in English, it would upset too many people. His style is aggressively anti-war, and anti-nation state, in a way that would not lead to constructive discussion in the UK, and , unless you look at some of his other works, such as ‘Mourir Pour les Idées’, it is difficult to understand what he is trying to say. To be fair, there are many French speakers that do not understand Georges Brassens either and I need to hear and read them a few times before I get the meaning. So I have written ‘One Day of Peace’ just to remind us all that there is never anything glorious about war and that, if we call everyone in the armed forces a hero, then we are reducing the value of that expression for those that truly deserve it.
1. The 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
2. One Day of Peace
Let there be one day in every year
When we choose to deny the glory of war
When we denounce the hatred, the horror the fear
That warmongers will always choose to ignore
When we admit that true heroes are rare
That skivers who survive show some sanity
When we praise the thoughtful, the kind and fair
And let modesty be master of victors’ vanity
This day no uniformed soldier will stand or march
We’ll salute no monarch by artillery gun
No trumpet triumph through ancient arch
Nor watchmen wilting in wintery sun
We’ll quietly reflect on mothers that suffer
When one nation decides that another should die
For their struggle for survival is so much tougher
Than drill sergeants forcing raw recruits to cry
On this day we’ll admire the willing but weak
The nameless, the homeless, dispossessed or frail
Those souls who for simple subsistence seek
Even outcasts dwelling beyond the pale
Unable or unwilling to join any army
The ones some refer to as feeble-minded
The maimed, lamed and blamed, the so-called barmy
Bumblers, maybe, by brilliance blinded
Those for whom poems will never be read
Who may see no value in vainglorious verse
Far flung, the few that will honour them dead
But praise be to them, for better or worse
Unto those that lack any achievement
Without pompous, pathetic, puritanical pride
Without joy in some unknown soldier’s bereavement
Praise be to the hedonist, just along for the ride
Yes this will be the greatest of days
No celebrities will monopolise the television
No general officer earning obsequious praise
No debate about military indecision
No noise of raucous royal regalia
Peace will be declared despite parliamentary pollution
Absent all military paraphernalia
On this one day, peace will be seen as the only solution