"I half awoke to a strange new calm..."

[Aurel Sercu]

Last Monday a programme was broadcast on the Dutch television, "The Last Honour", about missing soldiers whose remains were found after all these years. The documentary ended with a poem being recited near a monument in France.

I wondered who the author was. I have no idea whether he is famous or not, whether he fought in the Great War,...

I would not have put it on the Forum, if this afternoon I had not been contacted (via our website The Diggers) by someone in Holland who was intrigued just like me. So, also on behalf of Marion : who is the poet ?

He lets a fallen soldier speak (yes, I know, a bit cliché, and yet)... And it appears that he regrets that after all these years no one has ever called his name... Other soldiers' names are called, but never his... Implying that his remains have not been found yet (or that no one ever visits his grave ?) So he cannot be set free. Until at last he hears his name being called in a soft voice. And knows that now he is free and can go wherever his family go.

These are the opening verses :

I half awoke to a strange new calm

and a sleep that would not clear.

For this was a sleep that cures all harm

and frees us from all fear.

Shots had come from left and right

with shrapnel, shell and flame

and turned my sunlight day to night

for no one now would know my name.

Years passed me by as I waited.

I missed the generations yet to come.

Sadly I knew that I would not be a father

and not hold a son.

Anyone who has ever heard these verses and knows the author ?

Something in the poem seems to suggest that it was written after WW2.

Aurel

[john w.]

Aurel

Take it there is no title to go with the poem?

Could be post WW1 or WW2 for that matter

John

[Sue Light]

Hallo Aurel

Sorry that I can't answer the question, but your posting reminded me of this poem, with a similar theme [but a bit more brutal!] - I always find it rather reassuring when thinking about the 'missing.' It's by Martin Southall:

Requiescat in Pace

Silenced by well-hid sniper

he spreadeagled the slit-trench bottom.

Shed no tears for him, for

he has a resting-place of panoramic view

carefully sited

tactically sound

with excellent field of fire.

For him

no quick-tossed clods of earth

to press him into nothingness.

He shall be exposed

to all the changing seasons

and the gentle soothing rain

and he shall lie at peace – forever.

Or at least, until

the War Graves people

bag him up

move him on.

Regards - Sue

[Aurel Sercu]

Sue and John,

I have just found the author, through other channels. (I contacted the programme maker.)

Written by a certain Mike Edwards.

But all I know is that he is from "North England".

Not even if he is still with us.

No title of the poem.

But definitely post WW2.

For the 4th stanza :

I heard again the sounds of war

When twenty years of sleep had gone

For five long years, maybe more

Till peace once more, at last had come.

Should you want the whole poem, just contact me off Forum.

(Sue, Thanks for "Requiescat in Pace")

Aurel

[Neil Mackenzie]

Aurel.

There is a Mike Edwards who is a poet in Worcestershire - although not sure this counts as 'North England'.

While it is probably not the same person, this Mike Edwards has done a Remembrance Day poem which I quite liked.

Taken from the 'This is Worcestershire' web site and hopefully not breaching any copyright laws.

(www.thisisworcestershire.co.uk/worcestershire/ evesham/news)

I AND MY CHILDREN'S CHILDREN

I stand, we stand because of those who fell,

I and my children's children

Spared the bullet and the shell

By those who sacrificed their all to block the gates of Hell.

Let us remember still.

I speak, we speak because they silent lie

I and my children's children

May raise voices now on high

And lift, in gratitude, our eyes toward an English sky.

Let us remember still.

I live, we live because of those who died,

I and my children's children

Who were never since denied

The rewards of their sacrifice and all that that implied.

Let us remember still.

I hope, we hope because t'was hope they gave.

I and my children's children,

Free men and no man's slave.

Grant wisdom Lord to use the gifts bought for us by each grave

As we remember still.

MIKE EDWARDS, Camulus, Cherry Close, Evesham.

[Aurel Sercu]

That's right, Neil, I had found him too on the internet.

Yet, Worcestershire indeed seems a bit too west to count as north...

But who knows, my contact telling me that he was from "North-England" may have been wrong...

Aurel

[Neil Mackenzie]

Aurel.

I have a contact email so will ask him if the poem is one of his.

Best wishes.

Neil