Saturday 9 November 2013

Remembrance Day- Everlasting....

So I have just finished a bit of a hectic day at work, the store wasn't too busy but I seemed quite busy myself. Throughout today I have been thinking about what I could write for day 9 of the National Blogging Month challenge. Yesterday I managed to write a poem and today, well today I have been quite frankly stuck for ideas. Well until about 5 minutes ago so I thought I better write something now before my sudden burst of motivation goes. It sort of carries on from the theme of poetry I started yesterday and as it is Remembrance Sunday tomorrow it is kind of topical. A little background the poem is called Everlasting by Cindy Zhao who was amazingly only 14 when she wrote this and it won the Royal British Legion's War
Poetry Competition. I think you will agree how the style is simple yet effective and just sort of dances along. 

Everlasting...

His Version

The long, dark sky looms up ahead
As 2000 soldiers are not properly fed.
We fight and we hurt, to save others lives
But we go down like a bullet, there’s evil in knives
Blood pours out quickly across the sand
There’s nobody there to give a helping hand
We moan through the pain and we cry and we cry
And we say our prayers until we die
Trumpets ring true when the leaders arrive
We all stand up straight, we need to survive
My men surround me, all full of hope
But thinking back now, how would we have coped?
We hear news of survivors in our troupe
But it’s just a rumour going round a loop
We dress in black and mourn for the best
Even though it’s the one we all detest
Flashbacks appear when Christmas comes
And everyone is huddled together, we weigh tonnes
Tears drip down men’s cheeks, we weren’t born to cry
But sometimes it just ends up falling out of my eye
We say bye to loved ones as our happiness fades
We realise it was just a charade
And off once again to fight for rights
To fight for life in the starry nights.

Her Version
Huddled by myself, besides the warm fire
Makes my aching heart fill with desire
To see the man I truly love
As sweet as summer, as pure as a dove
His pictures sit on windowsills
Grinning, Laughing, giving me chills
As I can’t bear to think anymore
For he may be lost in the dreadful war
My heart doesn’t stop pounding, never skips a beat
I look out of the window, the bluebirds tweet
They sing their song, so happy inside
But I feel okay, I’m full of pride
Watching the TV screen with wide, open eyes
To see what’s really beyond the bright blue sky
As my best friend fights to save people’s lives
I just hope that he survives
A tear drips slowly from my eye
If he doesn’t come back I’m going to die
A newsflash breaks across the screen
It’s making a huge scene
The reporter says the war has ended
I scream and shout, it is intended
My wish, my dream, my hopes have come true
And someday they will for you…

My Version
She was waiting anxiously for him to arrive
But unfortunately he didn’t survive
The world had ended, their lives apart
But their souls forever connected, joined with their heart.

When I first heard this poem it was recited on Remembrance in Sheffield a few years ago, I haven't really read the poem that much since my second year when I used it for part of an Emotional Intelligence module. I was in a very sad and sombre state when I first heard this poem. Remembering people who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country is one thing but when you are there and it is the faces of some of your friends, their laugh, their voice, their smell that is the worst feeling in the world. It is sadness, guilt, despair all mixed in together. As I heard this poem I could really relate to the man in it, I was taken into the poem and that man was me. Although a feeling of depressiveness often occurs when I read this, the poem also gives me a sense of pride, of joy, of hope that there is something better out there. 

        

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