The Tangled Branch Discussion Forums

Tomorrow (12th), barring accidents or major problems, I will stand for a while with the old men in uniform at the outdoor service.  Every year the faces change, and some of the older ones vanish.

This poem is from 2019, when there were a few noticeable changes in the line-up..

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Remembrance Day 2019

Keeping it under their hats

This year the sunlight picked out the hats,
mostly black berets, mostly worn straight,
but a few cocked at an angle
in a proud and private code.

Two dark green berets,
one sandy, one bright blue.

Two Gurkha hats, dead level.
One above a hard unsmiling face.
The other incongruous,
framing a  'grandfatherly' smile
with twinkling eyes behind his glasses.

Colourful headgear for the Sikhs
and other Indians.  But warrior's eyes.
They don't look like this when working,
smiling at customers in their restaurant.

And a man in a black belted raincoat,
with a trilby hat, looking, God forbid,
like someone from the Gestapo.

Plus an elderly Indian lady,
in a long dark green dress
with a poppy print.
Standing with the men.

Gyppo

A solemn nod of respect, so much implied in the observed details. 
A good write, Gyppo.

Some well-presented images. Excellently recognizable people. I sometimes wonder bout the sacrifice and effort of that generation and the future they fought for...and the present world we have.  

Sometimes I have to wonder too.

Gyppo

One of my favorite writes from you.  Clearly the subject matter is deeply personal, which is why this poem flows with a drumbeat.