Remembrance Day 2008 – a poem from 1917, Soldiers (For R A), by F S Flint

Brother,
I saw you on a muddy road
in France
pass by with your battalion,
rifle at the slope, full marching order,
arm swinging;
and I stood at ease,
folding my hands over my rifle,
with my battalion.
You passed me by, and our eyes met.
We had not seen each other since the days
we climbed the Devon hills together:
our eyes met, startled;
and, because the order was Silence,
we dared not speak.

O face of my friend,
alone distinct of all that company,
you went on, you went on,
into the darkness;
and I sit here at my table,
holding back my tears,
with my jaw set and my teeth clenched,
knowing I shall not be
even so near you as I saw you
in my dream.

This is a day to remember, among all the others, the Arctic Convoy veterans whose recent tribute ceremony at Pool House at Loch Ewe we reported on fully; and to read the first of our Lifestories, which happens to be the memories of Jimmy Sinclair of Furnace, a WWII veteran, of his years as a POW in the salt mines of East Germany.