THE VILLAGE THAT HAD NO MEMORIAL

A woman moved in to a village ,

She strode around looking around ,

Getting to know the place ,

When she'd check the the village out ,

She noticed that unlike other British villages ,

It had no memorials to the dead of WW1 ,

The names of the villages who volunteered but never came back ,

She asked in the local pub , why there was not a memorial ,

The customers , went quiet , reluctant to answering her searching questions ,

They mumbled , fudged any answers ,

Looked down in to there pints , glasses of wine and what not ,

She persisted , till reluctantly an old boy , answered her ,

In anger he said '' I'll tell you're lady '' ,

''Why? '' '' you ask us '' , ''cos we were told we could not add one mans name ''

'' 'cos he were shot by a firing squad , he could not take NO more '' ,

''We would not put up a memorial with out his name on it '' ,

'' So not with out his name on it , then we'd sooner have none at all ,

The woman asked what they now felt about putting up a memorial including the mans name ,

She organized a meeting too ask the whole village what they thought ,

Of what to do ,

They all agreed too erect a memorial with all the names of the dead ,

Including the name of the villager soldier shot at dawn inscribed upon it ,

The villagers raised the money , and proudly erected a village memorial with all the names of those who did not return

Least we forget, we have not forgotten any of you

Ken D Williams

The Dyslexic Poet




Poetry by ken d williams The PoetBay support member heart!
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Written on 2011-04-24 at 10:51

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That village got its memorial after all... twice the tears fell in awe of the tale unfolding, first the sorrow of loss and discrimination, the last for the joy of reconciliation and remembrance. With the reading of this, my ANZAC Day 2011 is now complete.
2011-04-25