Source:
Adults
Author:
jonny graham
Title:
Rifleman.
Coming home. Down through summer sky from far removed tragedy. Youth will die. And roll along these streets. To rest. They tried to be strong but were overcome. Fighting hard to hold back tears. Clutching flowers. Hands on shoulders. Dark days of youth denied life's joys of growing older. Through the town of Wootton Bassett eight coffins met with the stilled respect of solemn mourning. Then gentle ripples of applause opened the gates of grief, where weeping men stood six deep, in powerful tribute, on these streets. In this little pocket of England, in this most emotional hour, in this cortege. The fallen rifleman now sleeps. Eight hearses. Eight coffins draped in union flags. Eight proud lifes lost. Youth's future snubbed by hollow promises, collapsed by political cost. This tragic repatriation, wrapped in contortions of grief, for young men who fell, marked by the tolling of St Bartholomew's bell. Teenagers and ex-servicemen, schoolchildren and pensioners, together in dignified silence, bound by mutual spirit and respect for those who hold the rifle. Visible public emotion laid bare, as the cortege slowly passes. And everyone knows this won't be the last to roll through the streets of honourable Wootton Bassett.
Published on writebuzz®:
Adults
> Poetry
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