One day of the year, hey, Max. Two flags you say? Australian and NZ? Or
Aboriginal and NZ??
It reads rather prosaically when you leave the particular. I'd like to see
a draft where we read your mind during the walk, the ceremony and in
reflection afterwards. You could 'say' all you want to say by imagery and
implication.
Andrew
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On 27 April 2016 at 09:57, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Anzac Day, Seattle
>
>
> How good, to rise early,
> slip out the door, head
> down before sunrise
>
> to the gathering place
> near the lake edge,
> knowing nobody here.
>
> Vaguely pious, I’m
> of a generation
> spared war itself.
>
> Uncles had known it -
> France, Gallipoli -
> told nephews nothing.
>
> Second War - a cousin
> or two; safe at school, I.
> Dad in Home Guard boots
>
> practiced First Aid, changed,
> went off to lawn-bowls.
> High-school teachers - some
>
> had been at the War;
> quietly now drilled the school
> cadet battalion wryly.
>
> Us? - conscripted at eighteen
> to Camp to play at soldiers
> through a slow summer.
>
> Instructors knew Korea.
> We were just America’s
> little helpers, as once
>
> Britain’s. The next war
> would be nuclear.
> Wrong. Vietnam.
>
> A student of mine -
> Melbourne this was -
> conscripted, turned
>
> objector, suffered
> Army discipline.
> Washington, Canberra,
>
> wouldn’t give peace a chance.
> Some took to the streets,
> desperate, ineffectual,
>
> till Saigon fell.
> They were years when
> Anzac Day made no sense.
>
> Now I’m old, perspective
> and a little reading
> suggests two public days
>
> sharing sadness, not
> mere patriotism:
> 11th November,
>
> think of Wilfred Owen.
> 25th April - especially
> now we’re joined by Turks.
>
> Even so remote a town
> as American Seattle
> brings together three sets
>
> of rememberers.
> I think: I could carry
> two flags if I had them;
>
> eyes would fill with tears
> when the bugle plays;
> and share after
>
> in the promised barbecue.
> How good to go early -
> if only I’d gone.
>
> Next year perhaps,
> should I live so long,
> and wake well before dawn.
--
Andrew
http://hispirits.blogspot.com/
Books available through Walleah Press
http://walleahpress.com.au
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