In Remembrance

For those of all conflicts
Who answered the call
Our thoughts are for them
Remember them all
And remember their lives
Not just their deaths
Who they were before war
Their time and their breath
Ordinary people
Living lives
In towns and villages
Far and wide
Born to live
Not breed to fight
In mother’s arms
They slept at night
But as men
Called to fight
Laid to rest
‘neath crosses white

Once battles raged
In fields of red
The poppies grew
Amongst the dead
Whilst men died
And fell to earth
Mother nature
Still gave birth
The colour of blood
Is what we wear
This is the colour
We all share
No matter your kin
Or creed, or belief
Red is the colour
We are underneath
Spilt in violence
And shattered peace
With fractured limbs
And broken teeth
On battlefields
Near and far
Dead and wounded
Share the scars
Once battles raged
For days and hours
Today they fight
Amongst sunflowers

And every generation, hopes
Their war will be the last
That this is the day
We learn from the past

So mourn those who die
Care for who survive
Those still fighting
When they close their eyes
And shed your tears
But save your anger
For the politicians
And their failures
Channel your feelings
Into fighting for justice
Caring for the injured
Campaigning for, peace

And scars still hurt, for those
That survived such histories
And memories sharpen
On certain anniversaries…

Forty years ago
In cold southern seas
On barren islands
Bereft of trees
Set sail a task force
A hurried fleet
To fight for a land
Of penguins and sheep
To be sewn with bombs
And seeded of mines
New names and words
Would be etched in our minds…

Exocet and Harrier
Mount Kent and Harriet
Tumbledown and Longdon
Antelope, Glamorgan
Wireless Ridge, Two Sisters
Galahad and Tristram
Malvinas and Marines
Darwin and Goose Green
Pebble Island, South Georgia
Ardent, Atlantic Conveyor
San Carlos and Stanley
Sheffield and Coventry
Bluff Cove, Seal Cove
General Belgrano
Every word lands
With a heavy salvo

And in conflicts since
And the news today
News words are spoken
From foreign frays
Names of places
Of a foreign tongue
Mariupol, Zaporizhzhia
And Kherson

So…
For those of all conflicts
Who answered the call
Our thoughts are for them
Remember them all
For those who volunteered
And those who did not
For the names we know
And those we’ve forgot
For those with gravestones
Who count the cost
And those who lie elsewhere
In places we’ve lost
For every soldier
Caught in the wire
And every civilian
Caught in crossfire
For the medics
And rescue workers
For those with medals
Or branded deserters

Every one of them
Deserve our thoughts
Whilst those left behind
Need our support
No matter their side
Or where they fought
In memories
Or history untaught
In wars of the past
Or now those hence
In all of our thoughts
And In
Remembrance.

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