Armistice Day.

It’s 11 am on Armistice Day

A truly reverent scene

Row upon row of yesterday’s Soldiers

Veterans now but just as keen

As they answered the call as young men & Women

To fight for the right to be free

From the possible threat of Dictators

Stealing their country’s liberty

Year after year since 1918

ex Servicemen young and old

Return here to the Cenotaph

To remember fallen colleagues bold

They march so proud, with their heads held high

Chair bound and invalids too

To honour the dead and fallen

Brothers in arms through and through

Every possible Service represented there

Thinking as one, in accord

There were those who saved their homeland

Those who fought terrorism abroad

With their heads to the right, as they pass the Queen

To give the time-honoured salute

Today they’re here to pay homage

From the Veterans to the raw recruit

They’ve come to a halt and there’s silence

For the Service and then the wreath’s are laid

Then as one the heads and standards are lowered

Each in his own way  prayed

In unison with the lone Bugler

As he blew the Last Post

Many with a tear on their faces

Remembering their personal Ghost

Of battles past when colleagues they’d lost

Tho’ never far from their mind

And on an occasion such as this

Comfort and peace they can find

The call now comes for “  Attenshun”

The Bearers their Standards now raise

The Old Soldiers march off in formation

To conclude one of Britain’s proudest Military Displays.

Dennis Shrubshall  9th November 2008