This poem was inspired by Anzac morning at Blackheath War memorial .It was a brisk Autumn pre-dawn morning on April 25th three years ago. A small space, in a small town like thousands of others all over Australia.
anzac
we leave our warm bed
rugged up from cold
before dawn
gather
!
with hundreds
out of the dark
around a cairn of unknown names
!
silence is broken only by coughs
and crunch of autumn under foot
!
no birds sing
!
the breeze sighs
trees weep
a solitary bugle plays
!
dark grief
for the futility of war
for humanity’s inhumane bent
!
the soul of anzac
wings our nations’ heart
hope rings in our song
as dawn pierces the inky sky
!
the first birds sing
!