Thank you

by David RL Moore

Friday 19th July 2024 8:30 am (first posted Tuesday 4th June 2024 8:35 am)

These dunes have been draped with flesh,

some on summer days surrendering to lovers

some under the gun by blood brothers.

The days between then and now are in the sand,

each footprint, each drop of joy and blood still here.

Children rush the shoreline chased by foamy waves.

We built monuments and carved men’s names

where beautiful children share happy games.

Beyond the cries of men marooned

we hear our children play,

these landing grounds that guts festooned

are their's again this day.

Thank you...

Comments

David RL Moore

Sat 8th Jun 2024 08:39

Thanks for commenting Martin and thanks for the recent likes.

David

Martin Peacock

Fri 7th Jun 2024 14:10

Another of yours i like. Not mawkish, like some, it sets an elegiac tone more in keeping with the sombre nature of the event it commemorates.

David RL Moore

Wed 5th Jun 2024 10:14

Thanks RG and to those who have sent recent flowers.

I have done my fair share of 'in your face' and there will be enough of that to go around, that is not to say I won't do it again.

I remember visiting various of the landing beaches in france and other landing zones. Although my mind was not far from the horror it was also focussed on the practicalities of staying alive and the motivations that got men off the X.

Obviously much of survival is luck but some is also sheer will and some quick thinking.

Such events should be recalibrated frequently and measured against how we live now. Obviously there comes a time when things slip beyond living memory. But how many of our countrymen consider the impact Waterloo had upon our world today, for it did and still does.

I also contrast the great D-Day sacrifice with how many of my former collegues have slipped through the net and taken their own lives, as many of those who landed on the beaches that day must have subsequently done.

War is a true horror and it is a horror that endures beyond its end.

"Only the dead have seen the end of War"

David

For the record, troops included in D-Day landings beyond those routinely reeled off consisted men from:

Australia, Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, France, Greece, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Poland.

This list is not exhaustive as many men fought in foreign armies not their native home. This included many Commonwelath soldiers although some were otherwise engaged in The Far and Middle East at the time.

Reggie's Ghost

Tue 4th Jun 2024 16:59

Not 'in your face' like many remembrance poems, more subtle blending then with now. Everything moves on but it's important to remember and to be determined to not give tyranny its head again.

David RL Moore

Tue 4th Jun 2024 15:49

Thanks to those who have sent flowers of remembrance

David X

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