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​Poems of the Era 3


A Poem for Remembrance Day
 
"The inquisitive mind of a child"

Why are they selling poppies, Mummy?
Selling poppies in town today.
The poppies, child, are flowers of love.
For the men who marched away.

But why have they chosen a poppy, Mummy?
Why not a beautiful rose?
Because my child, men fought and died
In the fields where the poppies grow.

But why are the poppies so red, Mummy?
Why are the poppies so red?
Red is the colour of blood, my child.
The blood that our soldiers shed.

The heart of the poppy is black, Mummy.
Why does it have to be black?
Black, my child, is the symbol of grief.
For the men who never came back.

But why, Mummy are you crying so?
Your tears are giving you pain.
My tears are my fears for you my child.
For the world is forgetting again.

                                                                              Author unknown

A Brown Slouch Hat

There is a symbol, we love and adore it,
You see it daily wherever you go.
Long years have passed since our fathers once wore it,
What is the symbol that we should all know?

It's a brown slouch hat with the side turned up, and it means the world to me.
It’s the symbol of our Nation—the land of liberty.
And as soldiers they wear it, how proudly they bear it, for all the world to see.
Just a brown slouch hat with the side turned up, heading straight for victory.
​
Don't you thrill as young Bill passes by?
Don't you beam at the gleam in his eye?
Head erect, shoulders square, tunic spic and span,
Ev'ry inch a soldier and ev'ry inch a man.

As they swing down the street, aren't they grand?
Three abreast to the beat of the band,
But what do we remember when the boys have passed along?
Marching by so brave and strong.

Just a brown ....
                                                                 J Albert & Son, Sydney,
                                                                                                   1942

 Heroes of Long Tan
 
 Lightning struck the shattered trees;
it up the roughened scrub
Monsoonal rain in all its frenzy;
churned the red and slimy mud
And the angels wept a sea of tears;
and history turned its page
As diggers; and their allies;
fought on a battlefield of rage.

Amidst the terror and the horror;
mortar shell and metal hum
Outnumbered by an enemy
twenty to their one
Where D company 6 RAR stood
watchful in their tread
With steadfast breath and courage
to face the task ahead

And the angels wept a million tears;
heads bent low in sorrow
For those who fought in conflict
and wouldn’t see tomorrow
As casualties they mounted;
and their situation dire
Hampered by the rising mud;
explosive sounds of fire

With ammunition low;
and blood of youthful diggers shed
Mowed down by bullet hail
that turned the earth to red
And mothers wrung their hands,
nd wept for sons so loved and lost
Their names written up in honour,
on a lone white wooden cross
The battle scarred, the traumatised,
the wounded and the lame
Returned back home unrecognised
or their suffering and pain                                                          
               
We commemorate these heroes
hat did not hesitate                 
To fight hard for their country
and die beside a mate
That sacrificed their lives
in a war torn living hell                 
Undermanned and isolated
killed by rifle hail and shell      
And like the misty dawn, the sunsets;
thunder and the rain                
We shall remember them;
so that they did not die in vain
              Lest We Forget​
                                          By Pam Bevan
                                    Binningup  2017©
                     Published with Permission
NOT IN VAIN
 
Let us gather to remember as a pledge of our respect,
At the 11th hour of the 11th month
A time also to reflect.
 
To honour those who went to war for peace for all of us.
So many courageous lives have been lost
Remembering is a must.
 
To preserve their fight for freedom
A memorial to those who died.
On Remembrance Day we all unite
Patriotically with pride.
 
Rain or shine we’ll stand together
As so many have had to do,
To rid the world of turmoil
To bring peace for me and you.
 
Because we’re proud of our great country
And peace must be maintained
In memory of those fallen
So their fight was not in vain. 

                                                                             Barbara McCabe                                                                                             11.11.2004

Tribute to ANZAC Day 

With their hair a little whiter, their step not quite so sure
Still they march on proudly as they did the year before.
Theirs were the hands that saved us, their courage showed the way
Their lives they laid down for us, that we may live today.

From Gallipoli's rugged hillsides, to the sands of Alamein
On rolling seas and in the skies, those memories will remain.
Of airmen and the sailors, of Lone Pine and Suvla Bay
The boys of the Dardenelles are remembered on this day.

They fought their way through jungles, their blood soaked desert sands
They still remember comrades who rest in foreign lands.
They remember the siege of old Tobruk, the mud of the Kokoda Trail
Some paying the supreme sacrifice with courage that did not fail.
To the icy land of Korea, the steamy jungles of Vietnam
And the heroic battle of Kapyong and that epic victory at Long Tan.

Fathers, sons and brothers, together they fought and died
That we may live in peace together, while at home their mothers cried.
When that final bugle calls them to cross that great divide
Those comrades will be waiting when they reach the other side.

                                                                                  Ken Bunker  
​

What ANZAC Day means to me.

My grandad went to Vietnam war
He was young and he didn't know hat he was fighting for
He could of had a better life
Instead he wanted to sacrifice

I miss him still lots today
It was a great adventure he would say
ANZAC day is a day we remember those who risked their life to die
We know they're still here with us because in heaven they lie

We remember them when the sun goes down
but at least some come back to their town
Every night someone says a prayer
Some people say that it isn't fair

Some people say I wish they come back
Why did they have t go. Why did they have to attack
 They fought for our country some people said
They all must of got sore and most of them bled

On Remembrance DAy they lay at the poppies
And we remember them in the family trees
ANZAC DAy is very import you see
and that's what ANZAC Day means to me.

                                                         Mia Wallis, Grade 5,
                    St. Augustine's Primary School, Creswick
                                                                      24 April 2017

                                              Published with Permission​
Ode of Remembrance

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them