They leave family at home

These women and men

Traveling to all four corners of this blue planet

Weapons of steel and wood

Cloth to bandage wounds

Some to conquer, others to bring peace

Uniforms to rags they suffer

They do what they have been told

They suffer for doing it

And too many died doing it

We honour them with a tear

We cry for our loss

Flowers to say we still remember

We buy poppies to support the survivors

The survivors among us we salute

We listen to the past and what they have to say

They walk with us

Once a year we gather to remember these fallen souls

Let us honour the living

We pray that the number of fallen and wounded soldiers get fewer and fewer

Mike Stuyt

White Rock