All who upon this solemn date
Heads bowed in silent minutes wait.
Are gathered, due respect to pay,
And for the future, peace we pray.
With names there etched on sacred stone
Of those brave souls who came not home.
At Cenotaph or monument
Such loss of life self evident.
No stranger or forgotten one,
But someone’s daughter, someone’s son.
They lay in never ending row
Beside their comrades, ever so.
With whom they lived and fought, and saw
The futile horror that is War.
They dreamed of futures that might be,
And lives that they would never see.
Cut short through greed and tyranny,
And such, it seems, will always be.
No stranger or forgotten one.
Each someone’s brother, someone’s son.
For those whose resting place unknown
When hope exhausted came not home.
Nowhere to mourn, no grave to find,
Nor flowers to lay at years remind.
One of their number laid to rest
Amongst the Great, the Good, the Best.
Entombed in Abbey, name unknown.
A hero come at last to home.
No stranger or forgotten one,
But someone’s father, someone’s son.
Janet Johnson
A service of Remembrance will take place at St George’s by the Lychgate at 11am on Saturday 11th November, and also during the Eucharist service at around 11am on Sunday 12th November.
