Tuesday, April 24, 2018

NOTIFICATION




They are buried in shallow graves,
friends past. 
The ground is soft: 
indentations and ridges
mark contours of their faces.

On the Somme
where death of friends
was today’s – and tomorrow’s –
steady business,
many bodies were lost.

Relatives of officers killed
received a telegram;
kin of the dead of other ranks
got Army Form B104-82 –
in the mail – “within six weeks”.

The last post, the eulogy,
are over in an hour,
memories queue to be catalogued,
grief observed. But eventually –
no ‘lest’ about it – we do forget.

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