The poppies have fallen for another year

Another armistice has come and gone;

We hold the silence, but as soon move on

 In lives removed and unable to bear

The constant weight of memory and of guilt

That we survive only because they died.

The silver inkwell sits above the stair

A gift from grateful villagers to one

Who fought - and who survived - along the Somme

Running the ammunition in his care

From lethal dumps to fetid trenches filled

With body parts, the generals denied.

And can I

Brian Hick November 2008

©copyright S Hick Nov 2021