24/04/2021
For our ANZAC Day
My Anzacs
Collectors of the remnants of the battlefields of old,
The trinkets on the mantle of wartime horrors left untold.
Shiny medals respectfully unpacked to catch one more rising sun
But not worn above the beating heart of the original one.
Your parting gift to all of us, left safe on native land,
The right to choose our way of life kept safe in our own hands.
With that choice you graciously gave the unknowing a chance to revere
the lives of loved ones never returned to those that held them dear.
Strange to those of us who've lost but need not seek.
Strange it is to those of us whose memories run deep.
More than just lost heroes, commendable brave and true
but brothers sons and fathers, just like your mates and you.
So this day it comes around again; I know it will bring me tears.
This day I offer thanks again, for the blessed freedom of my years.
My dawns bring on such memories that I can n’er forget.
And a grandson who knows you all but hasn’t met you yet.
I will think of you so much today It will bring back all the sorrow
for your absence in my family’s life, for time no longer borrowed.
I will think of you today and smile, of precious days shared in the sun
I will think of all you sleeping heroes sadly lost for battles won.
For all of those who’ve not felt the void of our heroes left behind.
For all of those who understand and those who play it blind.
I smile for you and feel the pride knowing your freedom came from above
from someone you may not have known, but someone who I loved.
© Debbi Lalor 2008
