Dedicated to the memory of WWII Veterans Mr. Roy Wingfield and Mr. Alex Grotkowski;
And to the known and unknown soldiers of today who lay down their lives in loyalty to truth, justice, and freedom.

The wind is cold and bitter is the blast
That bows across these desolate plains,
Where the Grim Reaper in gloom o’er passed
The bodies which fell on the Battle’s domain.
But the weary wind through the pine boughs blowing
Is weeping with tears neither hollow nor dearth,
It glides as a phantom and speaks to the earth,
Saying, “This is the place where their blood was flowing.
 
“Fearest thou death? O stranger come hither,
And behold with thine eye – tremble not!
Canst thou not hear through the echoing years
The combats loud din, see the dreadful feud fought?
Hark ye the cry of the stout, bold, and brave,
Canada’s troops who stepped forward to save,
‘For country, for sovereignty - cut through the fray!
For pride of dominion – though death be our pay!’
 
Charged they fearless to the battlefield,
Forward! Forward! They gallantly strode!
Though a bloody fight for them was sealed,
Though for some certain death was the ill forebode...
Now they lay silent, poppies shelter their grave,
These warriors fought for us – stout, bold and brave!
They suffered, they died, in the tumult of war,
The friend and the foe sided by side in the gore.”
 
Tarnish not worth as time duly passes
O’er their bodies and memories,
For still the wind blows through these fading grasses
Asking us now to reverence their stories...
“They died in their glory, for honour and fame,
Their brave-hearted work let us ever proclaim;
Forget not their blood, the crimson turf staining,
And remember their lives... in silence remaining.”

Originally published November 2012 by WISDOM Family Magazine