Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red - a response

We have received this poem as a reader’s letter in response to Andrew Studdert-Kennedy’s article ‘Remembering together’ and our photographic record of the installation at the Tower of London:

BLOOD SWEPT LANDS AND SEAS OF RED

Grief is an ache somewhere behind my eyes.
The poppies counting the obscene cost,
so much death, logic defies
this blood red rendition of our loss.

This bright remembrance impressed on our hearts,
we must never forget their sacrifice,
even though the passage of time thwarts
the clarity of our memories.

Overwhelmed by the sorrow of this sight
we, the golden generation
who have never been called to fight,
bear an irrevocable obligation.

We are bound to the dead and it is right
that this commitment endure.
And never again should we ask our future
to pay the ultimate price.

JWF
Oct ‘14

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