memorial (passchendaele 100)
bugle notes intone the hundred millionth earthly post
commemorating how easily men who would not wish to be enemies become cannon fodder in the cause of power
muddied and bloodied and mostly youthful conscripted or seduced by words untruthful lambs slaughtering lambs as they are slaughtered all as ordered, all as ordered
dignitaries come from ivory towers
commemorating hundreds of thousands of mud-swamped casualties sacrificed a hundred days under boot as trade for five miles so-called advancing
muddied and bloodied and mostly youthful conscripted or seduced by words untruthful lambs slaughtering lambs as they are slaughtered all as ordered, all as ordered
inherited wealth and ceremonial garb
commemorating loss lest we forget, always knowing that those who govern will once again choose the farce of war as the way forward
standing by the latest of a hundred million wreaths into the horn the solemn bugler breathes what is nevertheless never the last
post
Writer and some-time artist and photographer Peter A Kelly has, since March 2016, been reading and performing his work on Scotland’s live poetry circuit where he has been well received. First Prize Winner in Paisley’s 2016 Spree for All Fringe Festival Poetry Competition, he has also had poems published in I am not a silent poet and elsewhere, pending the launch of a collection with the working title, Twelve Months (containing scenes that some may find upsetting)
