11 November 2013

The 11th of November

Eyes that still tell so much, despite the glaucoma,
and that had seen too much.
Seemingly so fragile in that chair,
but back then a stone against the waves.

*

I ran into Death earlier today,
he was counting from his list by the wayside.
I stopped and said,
How goes the tally, my old friend?
He looked at me
and simply nodded in affirmation.

*

In the Davies' house in Rhymney
a photo of him stands at attention.
He was very popular round the village,
she says, with troubled hands.

*

The fields have long been overgrown in Flanders
and the air long cleared.
The earth holds in it memories, mostly terrible ones.
But there, by the autumned trees—
only the flowers have to suffer winter's cold now.

Ex Tempore LXXII
M.M. — 11-Nov-2013

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