as the bugle fades

 

"ANZAC 2026"


A faint drift of camp‑smoke moves across the oval
as neighbours gather in a loose ring,
boots scuffing dew‑dark grass.
Someone reads from an old diary,
paper soft at the folds,
its words settle over us
like a weather front passing slow across the range.


The march is smaller this year,
but each step lands with its own weight.
Kids lean from verandas with cardboard poppies,
a brass line warms the air near the cenotaph,
and the crowd parts gently
so, an older man can steady himself
before placing a wreath cut fresh from his yard.


By afternoon the town thins back into its rhythms—
shops half‑open, dogs restless at the fence.
A few of us stay near the memorial garden,
letting the day breathe out around us,
aware of how these gatherings
shape the way we carry our shared work forward
long after the bugle has faded.

 

 

 

 

 

.





Poetry by arquious The PoetBay support member heart!
Read 95 times
Written on 2026-04-25 at 03:48

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ken d williams The PoetBay support member heart!
My grandfather, Jo Williams
Landed on the beches of
The Bloody Dardinails
He were ' forchently ' wounded
I said ' forchanetly,
Restcueing a wonded comraid
Who lay wopunde, trap in bushing
That were on fire, bein burnt a live
He scremd all thtreue the night
crying caling for his mother
Granddad Jo, thoue off his webing
Climde out of the tren, his comraids
Were cracking up
Granddad Jo, zizzaghd, jump into the burning bush
Histed the wponded oficer on to his back
Began his run mack to the trench
Then were shot in the solger
Granddad, carred on runing, till both back in the trench
The offiser died, hranddad suved to go over the top
The Somme, Pashandel, and outhe battiles!
Out of the almost 700, who ladid on the beech at Galpoly that day
26, lived to be exavauated!
Grandads, landing on that bloody beech, his baptisam of war and baltal that day!
I found arquious, work most voveing , voved me to respond in kind.
I have works, hear on grandad Jo, that I have posted on poetbay. Among them: LANSHIR LANDINGS, that I wrote, when I were 13.
2026-04-25


melanie sue The PoetBay support member heart!
2 things-

*The poem is very well written and easy to absorb.

*Due to #1, it provokes the reader that is clueless about your content to seek out and research it, which several of us did. I am a better person, imho, for having read your work. Thank you. I think sharing perspectives can be unifying for us humans. Very well done.
2026-04-25


jim The PoetBay support member heart!
This led me to read the history of ANZA day, which, I didn't know, is recognized and celebrated (honored) world-wide.

The shared-experience of your last stanza is something missing from life in the U.S., where everything has become politicized and divisive, it is something this country badly needs—a common cause, unity.
2026-04-25


Griffonner The PoetBay support member heart!
Wow! This was so moving for me to read. Your words cut through time and give a real sense of the day. (It brought back the memory of my 'Aunt Dot' proudly standing on an ANZAC day in New Zealand in her nineties. (=Another photo to come in my photograph series I'm sure.) Blessings, Allen
2026-04-25