For friend
For foe
For all those fallen
Called into the mist of conflict
One man’s crusader
Another man’s terrorist
For all those sent
Dispatched
By desk-bound
Orders
Or Indoctrination
Persuasion
Or Frustration
Or Desperation
Aggressor
Or Protector
Agitator
Or suppressor
How to differentiate?
Seldom are those who initiate
Or make the call
Those who fall
Worn with pride
Lest we forget
That creed, colour, race, nationality or leaning
Has questionable meaning
For the dead
The calming, steady hand of sobriety For days and weeks and months Holds and comforts Soothes and cools Dilutes the cruel Guiding the hours And steering the minutes Sheltering from showers And looming
The bronzen dale lay bathed Lit gold by the late-day sun Wonderfully, Gloriously swathed While the light warns of night-time to come The fading bracken paints Vivaciousness stained on the hill While l
His broken heart won’t mend But he’s laying down foundations To simply walk again With lowered expectations One foot before the next Is what he aims to do Its nowt that can’t be mended With a metric l