After reading this Daily Telegraph article "Wootton Bassett: A very British way of mourning", I knocked this up. Yeah OK, so it's not going to win any prize, but here goes....
Goodbye in Wootton Bassett
Wide white top and broad side up,
Draped oe'r polished grains of wood,
Peaceful now in a carriage,
On your way to your final home,
The bells of St Bartholomew's toll out a sombre mood,
An eerie silence fills the air for a friend now absent,
Antonymous to the whistling of bullets in your final moment,
The command "Up" is heard,
Friends, family and colleagues salute their hero,
Sunlight rippling across their gleaming medals,
Sixty seconds later, and "Down",
The unknown people of this Wiltshire town,
Out in their thousands, shedding their tears,
To say goodbye to an admired figure,
Now gone forever, but never forgotten.
Explanation
This poem is about the down of Wootton Basset which for many years was the nearest down to the RAF base where British causalities of war who had not survived were repatriated. This poem is about the procession through the town, where hundreds, sometimes thousands of members of the public came out to pay their last respects to the fallen.
Wide white top and broad side up
From Wikpedia "To fly the flag (the Union Jack) correctly, the white of St Andrew is above the red of St Patrick in the upper hoist canton (the quarter at the top nearest to the flag-pole). This is expressed by the phrases wide white top and broad side up."
Draped oe'r polished grains of wood,
Peaceful now in a carriage
Wrapped around a coffin. Often the last act a Mum can do to send her child off clean and ready.
On your way to your final home,
Being laid to rest in a graveyard
The bells of St Bartholomew's toll out a sombre mood,
An eerie silence fills the air for a friend now absent,
St Bartholomew's is the church in the centre of town that would rings its bells as the procession passed through. Probably the only sound to be heard.
Antonymous to the whistling of bullets in your final moment,
That the silence that has filled the air was probably the complete opposite of how their final moments were lived, among the hail of bullets surrounding them, whishing past their ears.
The command "Up" is heard,
Friends, family and colleagues salute their hero,
Sunlight rippling across their gleaming medals,
Sixty seconds later, and "Down",
From the news article that inspired the writing of this "When the cortege reaches the war memorial, the president of the British Legion says a single word – "Up" – to mark the moment when ex- and serving members of the forces should begin their salute. "Down," he says 60 seconds later, as the hearses move on."
The unknown people of this Wiltshire town,
Out in their thousands, shedding their tears,
To say goodbye to an admired figure,
Now gone forever, but never forgotten.
I think this is self explanatory?
Wide white top and broad side up,
Draped oe'r polished grains of wood,
Peaceful now in a carriage,
On your way to your final home,
The bells of St Bartholomew's toll out a sombre mood,
An eerie silence fills the air for a friend now absent,
Antonymous to the whistling of bullets in your final moment,
The command "Up" is heard,
Friends, family and colleagues salute their hero,
Sunlight rippling across their gleaming medals,
Sixty seconds later, and "Down",
The unknown people of this Wiltshire town,
Out in their thousands, shedding their tears,
To say goodbye to an admired figure,
Now gone forever, but never forgotten.
Explanation
This poem is about the down of Wootton Basset which for many years was the nearest down to the RAF base where British causalities of war who had not survived were repatriated. This poem is about the procession through the town, where hundreds, sometimes thousands of members of the public came out to pay their last respects to the fallen.
Wide white top and broad side up
From Wikpedia "To fly the flag (the Union Jack) correctly, the white of St Andrew is above the red of St Patrick in the upper hoist canton (the quarter at the top nearest to the flag-pole). This is expressed by the phrases wide white top and broad side up."
Draped oe'r polished grains of wood,
Peaceful now in a carriage
Wrapped around a coffin. Often the last act a Mum can do to send her child off clean and ready.
On your way to your final home,
Being laid to rest in a graveyard
The bells of St Bartholomew's toll out a sombre mood,
An eerie silence fills the air for a friend now absent,
St Bartholomew's is the church in the centre of town that would rings its bells as the procession passed through. Probably the only sound to be heard.
Antonymous to the whistling of bullets in your final moment,
That the silence that has filled the air was probably the complete opposite of how their final moments were lived, among the hail of bullets surrounding them, whishing past their ears.
The command "Up" is heard,
Friends, family and colleagues salute their hero,
Sunlight rippling across their gleaming medals,
Sixty seconds later, and "Down",
From the news article that inspired the writing of this "When the cortege reaches the war memorial, the president of the British Legion says a single word – "Up" – to mark the moment when ex- and serving members of the forces should begin their salute. "Down," he says 60 seconds later, as the hearses move on."
The unknown people of this Wiltshire town,
Out in their thousands, shedding their tears,
To say goodbye to an admired figure,
Now gone forever, but never forgotten.
I think this is self explanatory?
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