Today is Armistice Day, the day when peace came to the world after WW1. It was said to be the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. For convenience, I suspect, it seems to have been moved to the nearest Sunday,

As I’m having to spend a lot of time trying to get through checking the edited manuscript of my latest WIP, I’m unashamedly reposting the one I posted for 100years since the end of that dreadful war.

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

I’ll never truly understand
How World War 1 began.
The death of Archduke Ferdinand
Started the deaths of many more,
The young, the old, the rich, the poor.
All died with guns in hand.

My Grandad went with Uncle Jim
And Our Poor Willie, too.
They sent them off, singing a hymn.
Grandad went to Gallipoli,
Uncle Jim left his love, Polly.
Gas in trenches did kill him.

I cannot see, in my mind’s eye
Grandad with gun in hand.
A peaceful man, sent out to die.
He fought for us, for you and me
So we can live and so that we
Safely in our beds may lie.

Grandad came home, and Willie too,
But millions more did not.
Their duty they all had to do.
They died in fear, in noise, in blood.
Everything was caked in mud.
Yet in those fields the poppies grew.

The War to end all wars, they said,
So terrible were the deaths.
The youth of Europe all lay dead.
Yet 21 short years to come
Another war. Once more a gun
In young men’s hands brought death.

One hundred years have passed since then.
What have we learned? Not much!
Too many men are killing men.
Wars still abound around the world.
Bombs and missiles still are hurled
At those who disagree with them.

My Grandma always referred to her brother as ‘Our Poor Willy’. No one knows why she called him that, though.

Please leave a comment. I love to hear from you and of your thoughts.

This poem, and others, can be found in Miscellaneous Thoughts. You can buy it by clicking on the cover in the sidebar where you will be taken to the online store of your choice.

The book is available in a number of formats.