Poem by Padre Waldo Smith

Discussion in 'Canadian' started by Chris C, Nov 8, 2017.

  1. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    I found this excerpt from What Time The Tempest by Smith, in 3 Troop by C Malcolm Sullivan. End of May 1944, in Italy:

    That afternoon we had visited the graves of Sgt Brown and Tpr Hemming, killed by an anti-tank gun at Point 315 the previous Sunday. Our boys had picked field poppies and laid them on their graves when we had buried them. Other soldiers had come that way and renewed the flowers day by day so that on the Sunday there were still fresh poppies there ... One evening I took paper and wrote:

    Beside the hedgerow there we buried them,
    The sergeant and his gunner, In the sunken lane,
    Their tank, holed and burned out, stood
    Where it had halted for that brief sharp duel,
    That, multiplied, makes the soldier's battle.

    A lovely countryside, for all the blasphemy of war:
    Hedges, trees and vineyards, grass meadows,
    And the springtime growth of oats and rye,
    With everywhere the vagrant poppies growing --
    Do poppies always grow on battlefields?

    A soldier's grave is best made where he falls;
    I should want it for myself that way.
    The trees, the earth that helped him in his need
    Of shelter and concealment, that looked upon him
    In those piercing moments at the last,
    These understand. His spirit lingers there,
    And it is well that they should shelter his last rest.

    And so we made their grave where they should lie
    Close side by side, as they had fought their tank
    Through every fight, arm touching arm.
    We made it deep, that nothing of the conflict they had left above
    Should break into their peace.

    Day by day the battle line moved forward.
    Other soldiers came along the road and by the hedgerow,
    Paused, and understood. I knew,
    For every time I passed that way,
    Red poppies, newly gathered, were laid upon the grave.​
     
    4jonboy, CL1, Ron Goldstein and 2 others like this.
  2. Ron Goldstein

    Ron Goldstein WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Seroster

    New to me and so many thanks

    Ron
     
  3. Chris C

    Chris C Canadian

    Ron,

    You're most welcome.

    Chris
     
  4. CL1

    CL1 116th LAA and 92nd (Loyals) LAA,Royal Artillery

    Sergeant BROWN, HAROLD F.
    Service Number B/88054

    Died 14/05/1944

    Aged 22

    "B" Sqn., 11th Armd. Regt.
    Ontario Regiment, R.C.A.C.

    Son of Henry David and Clara M. Brown, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.


    INSCRIPTION
    O VALIANT SON THE MILES CANNOT MAKE OUR LOVE AND MEMORY FADE. MUM, DAD AND BETTE
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    Sgt Harold Francis Brown (Unknown-1944) - Find A...


    Trooper HEMMING, WILLIAM RICHARD
    Service Number A/42157

    Died 14/05/1944

    11th Armd. Regt.
    Ontario Regiment, R.C.A.C.

    [​IMG]
    https://images.findagrave.com/photos/2014/86/56057322_1396016373.jpg
     
    Chris C likes this.

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