To a boy climbing the cenotaph the day after ANZAC day - Kathleen Henderson

We will remember them.


To a boy climbing the cenotaph the day after ANZAC day - Kathleen Henderson

You are used to war. Oh child
You see it daily on your TV screen
The Bullet hits
A spurt of technicolor blood
A body reels and falls before your eyes
You do not feel the pain
Or see the paper poppies draining red
After the heavy rain
You do not see that woman
Bending low to touch that card of memory
On a wreath of white and yellow flowers
And understand she thinks of son
Or lover
You do not know or care
Or if you do
It's like the passing flicker of the picture show
Where tears are cheap
And danger is not death
A gun to you is something that you point at friends
And shout
Bang! Bang! You're dead
While you play hide and seek
Behind the weathered warriors of stone
You do not see a woman with her tears
Or see the paper poppies draining red
After the heavy rain





(2007). D. O'Meara (Ed.), Voices of the Pacific: A poetry resource Auckland: Pearson Education.