REMEMBERING

It is easy to forget to remember
Those so easily forgotten
That they are not just a list on a village plinth
Or buried names in newspaper print
Let us not forget they were people like us
Fathers and sons and daughters and mums
Cousins and lovers and friends
And those who live on to carry the burden
Of grief and pain without end
They too need remembering
And holding in place
For their unhealed wounds
And their sacrifice
For them no victory is found in their tears
Just a sense of defeat
And wasted years
We remember them.

There is much to remember
Perhaps more to forget
And yet
While it’s part of our history
As page after page
Is quick to record
Do we only remember the dates and events
Before the people that paid for it all.
Let us not forget that what we remember
Is not the glory of men at their best
But rather the cost
Of a world at a loss
As to how to live with itself in peace.

But now to return to those that are gone
Those
Whose lives are an unfinished sentence
About to say something to someone they loved
But stopped in their tracks
As they paused to draw breath
Interrupted, cut short
And rudely silenced
By an untimely guest
Who called himself Death.
We remember them.

Let us lastly remember
If death is the end
In the end
The cost is too great
But
A man once said
Before choosing his end
Greater love has no one than this
Than to pay the price and lay down their life
For their friends as a sacrifice
So today let us say
And remember always
Greater love has no friend than this:
Than to always remember
And never forget
That life itself is a gift.

Richard Everett