Vimy

Tears stream down my face

Like so many of the fallen

Grief, a vice

Bestills my heart

My breath

Hostage

Desperately rearranging

My gauze padded head

As the bite of an improvised crutch

Halts my stumble

So green... so green

Its beauty matches my sorrow

I can almost see

Flander's from here

Then the horror hits

Wave after wave

Memory of a place in time

Where black flows upward

Collapsing like a marionette

My sob reborn

Into a pheonix of rage

Bellowed at a mute sky

Movement caught

By trained sense of survival

Fear, anger, tension, passion...

Disolve

Hundreds, no thousands approach

Wearing unknown clothing

Standing stunned on this Ridge

The wind carries

A comfort beyonds words

The narration goes on

"90 years ago Canadian...

The battle raged and so many...

And that is how Vimy Ridge was won."

I am crying again

So great is my pride

They stand row on row

Gazing out

So young, like me

The tug on my sleeve

Hesitant

"Were you here?"

"Yes"

A crisp salute

An act of love

Mimicked by all

"Thank You"

Legend still holds

Of boys from WWI

At sunset

Returning to Vimy Ridge.