Chimneys smoking across the steel city
Where industrial ghosts of the past
Spiral heavenwards
In plumes from the remnant furnaces
Lingering in the ether
Smelting past memories
Smarting the landscape
Haunting the skyline
In whispers; in echoes of a bygone era
They told me that the elephant
Would just never forget
And so with failing memory
I went outside to get
Myself an elephant to come
And memorise for me
All those things I would fail to store
In later history
I bid this elephant to pave
His neural corridors
With recollections in his mind
To open up the doors
Of mnemonic strategy
Recall what would not stick
In hope that friendly elephant
Would capture them real quick
But sadly it did not work out
For tell him as I did
To hold my thoughts up in his brain
Even for a few quid
He simply didn’t understand
As I had so presumed
And that is how he became the
Elephant in the room
In the ether I see a kissing gate
‘Tween this world and the next
Where heaven’s call bids you come
Through the mist of tears
In our final farewell
And yet our love will remain
For although in my heart is a vast chasm
Under the lilied arch of sorrows
At that gate etched in life’s memorial
Where the sun sets on our yesterday
It will be that love; our love
That will always linger in my soul
And shine throughout the morrow
For all eternity
English: Sunset over the church at Low Gate See image 38988. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The moon bleeds red tears on Armistice eve
A reminder of those who we sadly now grieve
Who paid the high price for our freedom and more
In battles and conflicts and heinous war
Their sacrifice recalled in the blooded moonlight
Their acts of such heroism saving our plight
To be remembered forever; their loss now our debt
Let hearts not go cold; let us never forget
English: When Moon seen very close to the horizon, the long sight-line through the atmosphere, filters and reddens the moonlight. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
To light a memory like a candle
Glowing brightly in the moment
Illuminating the past with an intensity
That fills the mind’s eye
Before it flickers and recedes
To lie dormant until the wick is re-lit
Like lego pieces scattered
That come to form a whole
Your memory is similarly
A process that enrols
So many different areas
Of a brain it isn’t true
But memories are what make up
Yourself. Agreed? It’s true!
From what you had for breakfast
To what you did last week
The colour of those socks you wore
The way Aunt Ethel speaks
Your spellings and times tables
The way you get to school
The names of friends and family
Not to forget the rules
And so just to remember
Your brain has much to do
To code and store and then retrieve
What a hullabaloo!
So get to work and focus
Get busy one, two, three
And let’s get all braintastic
To improve your memory!
Lego bricks (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
If there are memories I recall
It’s things that touch me so
From sights I see to things I hear
To smells and tastes that go
Around to nudge my senses
To tickle and delight
My feelings and emotions in
A way that shine out bright
And plant right there forever
To stay the length of time
As memories form part of me
My reason and the rhyme
To follow in the footsteps
In the feet of those from old
Tradition steeped in history
Well trodden boards behold
Cementing in the future
Successes of the past
To bring about a sense of pride
Identities to last
Stability in what has gone
Pre-empting rhythm’s rhyme
Transmission of the old to new
Through passages of time
A dedication to those who served in the D-Day Landings (6th June 1944)
I will never forget you
Always; always there
The men that went to save us all
From tyranny; despair
Ahead the roaring Dakota
To bring about new light
A light that now shines luminously
Across the world tonight
I will never forget you
Always; Always true
On beach history surging forward
Yet for many their adieu
And you? It cost everything
Past this world to the next
Your sacrifice; the final one
In a place so very vexed
I will never forget you
Always; Always young
At peace now from the cries of war
Your old age n’er to be sung
And me; I will remember well
The chaos and the pain
The costly price of freedom, may
It never be in vain
We will never forget you
Always ; always there
The men that went to save us all
From tyranny; despair
And let the lessons learnt stay true
The guns of war now cease
Uphold the light of soldiers in
Hope of a world at peace
Yesterday was the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings in France. BBC Radio Lincolnshire played a tape recording of four Veterans from the county through the day, Tony Blackman, Arthur Ernie Coville, Bernard John Hale and John Summerson. It concluded “I want to go back to leave some of myself behind to the fallen lads that I knew – I shall always think about those that we left behind – always”
We will remember them – always.
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
Bright morning sun, emitting rays of warmth
Warmth through space that has gone before
Luminous stars, radiating light
Light from years gone by in cosmic antiquity
Cumulous clouds, condensing droplets of vapour
Vapour from streams and rivers of yesterday
Crystal clear tides lapping in waves of water
Water from the ocean’s basin set before
Clear memories, calling to mind experiences
Experiences paving awareness from the past
Ancestral genes, expressing pathways of inheritance
Inheritance journeying from lives once lived
Eternal legacies, leaving their enduring imprint
Imprints to last from then until now and beyond
Messengers of time, from yesterday to today
Today and now and onwards towards tomorrow
Flickr today (Photo credit: @Doug88888)
Ginz&Tonic 