A Reflection for Remembrance

At this time we remember …

Watching Remembrance events and services on the television, attending them in person,
having loved ones in our thoughts and then hearing reports of continuing conflict around the world,
we once again pause.

To help us concentrate our thoughts we are offered the poetic insights of one of our congregation.

She writes:

A lone seagull wheeling in the grey mizzling sky.

Pinched faces in a shivering group,

Standing on the cinema steps.

The standard straining fitfully in the bitter wind,

Held steady in a white-gloved hand.

St George and his dragon

Frozen in the eternal fight of good and evil.

A silver cross, a clatter of rifles,

The generations come together in a unique instant of time,

Remembering.

Old conflicts, an old comrade,

Grandparents,

A soldier’s tale, history lessons –

All brought together in a small scarlet poppy,

The colour of blood,

Their blood,

The price of our freedom.

We will remember them.

[Remembrance 1996 by Elizabeth Verlander]