WA
8894 posts
Lest we forget....
Poem by Laurence Binyon
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is a music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncountered:
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn*.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables at home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end they remain.
They shall grow not old....as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years contemn*
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, we will remember them
On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month
NSW
1125 posts
Thank you Elmo for posting the poem.
Lest we forget
WA
23684 posts
Yeah so it is good to post it on the day before so people remember
WA
344 posts
I guess eventually it will become an event retold through books and films, unavoidably and understandably biased, or at least tainted by the level of understanding, views and experiences of the people who wrote them (and the people who read or listen to them).
I was lucky enough to have had a Great Grandfather who served in the infantry in both wars (I & II), and a Grandfather who was a submariner in WWII. Great men with some amazing stories, better than any book or film could re-tell. They are not the only men of their kind, the doddering old man at the supermarket checkout, or the blind old git driving his car at 40kph may well have had some help from military service towards their degenerated senses. For the sake of these people we should do our best not to forget.
To have lived though such a period of extreme fear, total destruction, intense isolation and poverty, to have lost everything you know, and everyone you have loved, forever, let alone the irreversible mental deterioration which often accompanies these experiences is not something I want to experience, and even more so, it is something I never want my son, or any of his children, to experience. For their sake also, we should do our best not to forget.
However, the one flaw, and the reason for the whole shooting match in the first place is that we are only bloody human, so we probably will forget until it happens again.
QLD
7436 posts
Poetry seems particularly apt on the topic of war.
Some contemporary stuff - http://www.poetsagainstthewar.org/poemsoftheweek.asp
WA
136 posts
Yes let us not forget how our forefathers who died on those foreign soils and thanks for the sacrifice you made for this country. RIP POPS, just hope all the new Aussies understand the commitment those Diggers made.
WA
1430 posts
i am not likely to forget i help train the young people (kids) who play "last post and revellie". The same for ANZAC day
