Poppy

A poem written and performed for Remembrance Day, 2015 and requested by the Chaplaincy at HMP Highpoint. Written to be accessable to all, I hope, with some simple, if subtle, anti-war messages.

Poppy

 

Look on the poppy, red and black

Remembrance of those that never came back

From far-flung fields in Flanders and France

And the wounded and weary, chosen by Chance

 

The red reminds us of the blood that spills

In foreign valleys and on distant hills

Whenever men are called to fight

For King or country, wrong or right

 

The black reminds us of the mud

On which the shells and rockets thud

And the grey and gruesome graves that hold

The bodies of those too brave or bold

 

The petals around the centre spread

Remind us of leaders and the led

Together trained, by brotherhood bound

Dispersed, a target for a sniper’s round

 

Think of those men that for us give

Their lives, so young, that we might live

In prosperous peace within these shores

Far from the fear of foreign wars