please remember them

Heads bent solemnly in remembrance

As the prayers of thanks are read

Those here have walked the byways of the dead

And have brought tales for the young

That death may not visit them so easily

Seas of faces that should be so much more

Line the walkway of the monarch

Who has stood with them since youth

And still stands now

As they do

Hymns lace the air

And many fly with the notes

Scenes pass before their eyes for a moment

Then are gone

As they pull themselves forward to the now

As the last post echoes through the hills

Of lands that have been torn, or part of war

And the tears roll out of the buglers mouth

And join the tracks on the faces of the few

And then silence

Silent contemplation

Then reveille

And the remembrance that life follows death

And will for all time

But not all is black this day

For happy times are shared

Of battles fought

And friends met once again

Who many thought had gone long ago

Songs of their time are re-enacted

And Churchill lives again through the actors art

And many return to those speeches

And remember their resolve in those dark days

Fluttering butterfly wings of banners

Carried by those once arthritic

Have made the final push to stand and be counted

Marching to the songs of their lands

Men stand to see them pass

Though regiments that held their names

Have gone into histories archive

Then the march to end all marches

As the warriors of old give it their all

As if their youth had revisited them

And the streets are lined with the grateful

And those who came for their own reasons

And the waves follow them

Lapping gently at their heels

Until every space is filled outside the place of Royalty

And then the beast of war awakens

And flies over as it did in the days of need

Red petals cascade upon the watchers

And a nations heart opens

Filling the air

And says thank you

We Wear our Poppies with Pride