Friday 30 October 2015

At St. John's Church, here at home, Remembrance Day is kept on the nearest Sunday, (this year, the 8th November.)  After the service, prayers are said at the war memorial for the fallen of all nations throughout the world.
This is also the same day as the Act of Remembrance which takes place at The Cenotaph, Whitehall in Central London.
Of course, the official day is 11th November every year....

Here is my own poem in tribute ...............

Remembrance Day

A soft grey day                                                     
on the cusp of winter chill.                                              
Fallen leaves, fragments underfoot -                                
crushed frail wings of Speckled Wood;                  
and shy moorhens dipping red shields
backpedal against the charging stream.                            

The glowing bonfire’s heaving heart
aims smoking tracers to the ashen sky.
Bitter drops of hawthorne’s vivid blood
flood the hedgerows; a heron waits -                     
and by the church scarlet poppies                                   
lie entrenched with pale crosses.                                     

From Hyde Park cannon boom
                                 fracturing the still air.
 

© Sue Burley

 Published in 'Reach Poetry',
November, 2015; issue 105

 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                                                'The Fens', 6 Acre Meadow,
                                                                               near St John the Baptist, Old Malden