https://www.writeoutloud.net/public/blogentry.php?blogentryid=127856

There’s a flower, that’s for Remembrance;

Poppy of Hope in the rat-race gutter,

Some ego trip by town hall plastic patriots,

Aimed to set our hearts a-flutter,

Whilst sentimental platitudes they parrot;

It might as well be on the Brighton Line,

As into oblivion it’s daily smeared and ground,

By t...

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Up on poppy hill they say, where no animal makes a sound.
No children wander off to play, just poppies all around.

If I recall between you and I, In that bright red field of flowers.
Like a crimson wave, a scarlet sea, hides stories full of powers.

For it was up on poppy hill, you know, in the red fields there yonder.
Where you might see the lonely widow, as she often starts to wander.

...

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Time

Time lies like a guardian angel,

lost in a past

that shall leave a trace,

safe within the pleats

of this life's fabric.

Look and remember

a white poppy's petal

that brushes gentle as night

across our peaceful faces

with silken care.

Chris Hubbard

2018

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Blood Brothers In Arms

My uncle Jack nearly died

in the battle of the Somme.

Crawling from his trench

he was the victim of the bomb

that threw him in the air

and killed his brother, Tom.

Deafened by the blast

and blinded by the mud

he lay upon the battlefield

drowning in his blood,

praying God would save him

as only his God could.

But the gods ...

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A while ago, before I retired, I was concerned for the welfare of my students on reading a piece discussing the alleged widespread use of the psycho-stimulant Retalin by Australian university undergraduates. As a performance enhancer it was said to often be accompanied by depressants to reverse the effects. For some, it may have served as an introduction to more addictive and even more pernicious ...

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Wounded.

Black bullet hole wound
blooms red November petals.
Blood and remembrance.

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`

Was it the yellow of your bright petals
or the way you danced in the breeze
that I brought you home from fields?
Was it the strength of your upright stalks
or the camaraderie, your solidarity?

There in the sun you sang hope,
songs that filled a mourning heart;
there in the wind you whispered
plaintive farewells on conflicted air-
fill this grieving with consolat...

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