Volume 21, Number 119, February/March 2018 I Shall Never Forget! by Richard David Briggs
Dedicated to: The Canadian Armed Forces
Military wreaths, earned crowns for our blessed laid to rest,
Committed combatants, notable exploits, recalled to mind,
Our brave went to fight the good fight, gave their very best!
Many, supreme sacrifice paid, freedom in Canada, we find.
Weathered names carved on Cenotaph of forgotten faces!
Heroic fallen, who once smiled, cried, showed sincere love!
Their sacred dust crypt in cemeteries, urns, foreign places,
Such valiant spirits reside - not here - but with God above!
At eleven hundred fighters fly by, Maple Leaf at half-mast;
O’ Canada! Rifles salute! Padre’s prayers, Dignitaries talk;
Last Post bugled, our awed silence, for comrades passed;
Teary-eyed, pensive, remember Armed Forces’ lives lost!
God Save the Queen now sung, Sergeant of Arms orders:
‘Attention! Quick march!’ Bagpipes, drums resound, leave.
Suddenly awakened, stranded between life-death borders!
We, left in their stead, reality returns, with new vision, see!
November eleventh breeze blows brown leaves to ground,
I depart, shall never forget these soldiers safe and sound!
Note: Canadian Stories Magazine (Volume 21, No.119, 2018) shows the poet's name as "Ryan Potter"; Ryan Potter was a fictional character that I used in the short story "My Awakening".