anzac

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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

!