Strange Iconic Sentinels - Aindre Reece-sheerin

Stretching up towards the scattered light from a grey, cloud filled sky
You are the accepted symbol of our fallen men and women of wars current gone and by
Those perceived gallant lads and lasses, who gave their lives that we may celebrate our right
Our right to demonstrate against such loss of life and the futility of war

You who will never grow old, you whom we shall remember in each and every setting sun
You who fought and died in that which you believed was right
Whether victor or vanquished you fought your fight Never perhaps knowing the enemy in your sight

So with your crimson tops stretch on toward the light
Take with you their souls for us into the glorious light
Ask them to teach us how to live and not to fight
Ask them to show that only God has might and right

With your thin yet strong if at times tenuous grip
Show us that life is like the water you sip
Bitter and sweet, stormy and cold
But like those lost to us you will never grow old

So whether in flanders field or on erins green isle
If lost at sea and unknown no marker where you lay
Rise up my beauties and reach for the sky
Take heart, draw breath, for you need no longer sigh
As in God’s Blessed Love, and arms do you lie
comforted and free unlike this mortal coil
Unlike the poppy’s seeds which are tied to the soil

Aindre Reece-sheerin