A Remembrance in Verse: For the Fallen, Laurence Binyon
For the Fallen
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.
As 11th November approaches, we take a moment to reflect on the sacrifices that have shaped our history and the freedoms we hold dear today. At the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918, the guns fell silent, marking the end of the First World War. Yet, for countless families, the silence came at an unimaginable cost.
More than a century later, we remember not only those who made the ultimate sacrifice, but all who have served, suffered and given so much in the hope of a more peaceful world.Their courage must never be forgotten, nor the price paid for the freedoms we enjoy today.
This Remembrance Day, Swaine will be observing two minutes of silence, to honour the fallen, remember their sacrifice and ensure their memory lives on.
