With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

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.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

***

At 11am on the 11th of November, 1918, World War 1, ‘the war to end all wars’, ended.

Here in the UK and in Commonwealth nations, that war, the subsequent WW2, and all conflagrations since, are remembered on this, Remembrance Day.

The symbol of Remembrance is symbolised with the wearing of a poppy, a flower that grew freely on the battlefields of France and Belgium, its blood red colour recalling the blood lost on those battlefields.

No excuses for this being a non-naturist post. It’s a day of sombre reflection in the UK and Commonwealth nations, as well as recalling others, the Irish soldiers, the Czechoslovakian and Polish pilots of the RAF, who fought to overcome the scourge of fascism.

Our world is increasingly divided and the ugly face of fascism is sometimes seen as being on the rise again. That must be opposed in all shapes and forms. Today, of all days, we recollect the ultimate price paid by so many to make our world a free world, and give thanks for the sacrifice they made.

We will remember them.

Ella