Two minutes
\nby cricketjeff on November 4, 2008.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved
\nStand in silence out of duty and for love for all the brave.
\nStand in silence in the memory of all who fought and died.
\nStand in silence where you’re working for the men they could not save.
\nStand in silence or their suffering’s denied.<\/p>\n
Every second of this silence cost at least a million lives;
\nFrom the century that taught the world\u00a0 a thousand ways to kill,
\nMaking orphans out of children, making widows out of wives,
\nOur whole species, some may say, has fallen ill.<\/p>\n
As we stand in contemplation of each nation’s bravest men,
\nJust two minutes every year to mark a debt we cannot pay,
\nWe should look within our consciences and ask the question ‘”when”
\nWill we learn this senseless slaughter’s not the way?’<\/p>\n
Every time you buy a poppy for the aid of those who’ve fought
\nYou give honour to the heroes who have given all for you
\nEvery war has seen the failure of the lessons that were taught
\nFaces turned toward the old and not the new<\/p>\n
Ninety years now since the ending of the “War to end all Wars”
\nBut we never seem to learn there has to be a better course.
\nIf you think a bomb will settle things just take the briefest pause
\nAnd try to talk before you turn to force.<\/p>\n
For a Kaiser or a madman or to save democracy,
\nFor the soldier in the battle every bullet is the same,
\nHe can be an Emperor’s minion or the free-est of the free,
\nHe pays the price but doesn’t own the blame.<\/p>\n
Stand in silence – just two minutes doesn’t seem too much to give.
\nStand in silence and remember that they gave their lives for you.
\nStand in silence for the innocents who have lost the chance to live.
\nStand in silence for a chance to start anew.<\/p>\n
Author notes
\nWe do not have a “Veterans day” here in the UK the closest approach is
\nArmistice day, commemorated in many countries of course, November the 11th when
\nat 11am we stand in silence to remember all those who have given their lives in
\nany of the services. It is also taken as a day to note and honour those who
\nstill serve and those who did serve but did not die. The poppy refers to the
\nEarl Haig appeal by the British Legion where paper poppies are sold to raise
\nmoney for the British Legion the major service charity here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Two minutes by cricketjeff on November 4, 2008.\u00a0 \u00a9 Jeff Green, All rights reserved Stand in silence out of duty and for love for all the brave. Stand in silence in the memory of all who fought and died. Stand in silence where you’re working for the men they could not save. Stand in silence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":9748,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3361","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3361"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3361\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8148,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3361\/revisions\/8148"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/9748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nicewaistcoat.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}