“Remembrance Day in Lion’s Head” by Sally Wylie

Remembrance Day in Lion’s Head

November 2012

Our impatient feet knead the soft ground freshly soaked with rain

sinking slightly,

 we wonder how soaked the shoes will get,

unfocused

until the pastor reads ... in Flander’s Fields.

What of those soldiers’ feet, their boots worn thin,

with holes, no soles

 too big, too small,

the winter mud and freezing snow

cordite in their face, plugging their nose;

not like here,

on a clear November morning watching wreathes held by old hands.

Next to us, just on the other side of the fence, a clothes line of t-shirts catches the wind,

then the long-sleeved white shirts,

they fill with wind, long arms dangling,  

row on row

waving  to the crowd of townsfolk  clustered with the veterans, the trumpeter and the vicar.

The shirts, straining against the clothespins, stretch out, as if calling

“Remember me”, they flutter … ghosts in empty sleeves.

*

Sally Wylie has recently retired from her career in Early Childhood Education.  In 2012, she co-authored her 4th edition of Observing Young Children:  Transforming early learning through reflective practice with Nelson Publishing.  She has published numerous articles in Canadian journals on subjects relating to early childhood.  Every summer you will find her and her husband working the ramp at air shows in Ontario and New York.  Happily much of her time involves fun times with their grandchildren. When she’s not traveling or doing Tai Chi, Sally enjoys writing.

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