Sees no mark in
the calendar,
For remembrance
services -
No symbolic act
of poppy wearing.
No commemorations,
Or guesses of
future wars.
There were no one
minute silences,
At a given
eleventh hour -
There would be no
armistice -
The tomb of an
unknown warrior,
Remained unknown.
The stark ending
of 11.11 stays
Still four long
years away.
The ground of Whitehall
road
Is absent of any
Cenotaph,
Temporary or
permanent,
Or any sight of
poppy wreaths.
Such flowers were
yet to grow,
In desolation of
charnel fields.
The Empire and
Europe's minds,
Remain in midst
of international war
Situation - The
present occupation
Is for state
opening of parliament.
Forming a
different type of parade.
Yet quiet
commemorations still
Took place in the
hearts of many;
From those who
receive the knock
Of a telegram on
a doormat -
Or those who read
causality columns.
In one such broad
sheet,
Beneath Rudyard
Kipling's odd title,
‘Who dies if England
Are lists of
missing, wounded and dead.
7 long columns
taking up
Almost 2 pages of
tiny names -
Forming a living
paper cenotaph.
by Jamie Mann.
Mann, J., 2014. 100 years Ago -
Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 11 November
2014).
#WW1
#WW1centenary #GreatWar #WW1poem #GreatWar #ww1centenary #worldwarone #worldwaroneremembered
#WW1London
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