Lest We Forget

LEST WE FORGET

Only once, only once,
This day, this hour
Wakes us with welcome, making us
Heirs of a morning, of spider spangles
Or the lace-trimmed frills of the petticoat sea
Lightly afloat on a little wind.
We live and perceive precariously.

Do they forget this,
The wise, the wily
That split the atom, discuss procedure
And let go by this only hour
This little delicate only hour
Before death grows in them or yet more slyly
Corruption creeps in the chill breast ?

Do they forget this,
The innocent, the led,
That let themselves be led singing Tipperary
Remembering once perhaps that song in the pub
And Saturday begotten sons
Born as begotten in the old brass bed?
Themselves now dead. In another war. And all forgotten.

To each one only once.
Lest it be forgotten.

© Mary Wedd