I Dance With The Ghosts. Falklands 1982. Falklands eight.

Cherry

By Mentalelf

Mon, 25 Jan 2021
  • 574 reads
7 comments
 

 

 

 

I Dance With The Ghosts. Falklands 1982 Falklands eight.

 

I dance with the ghosts

Of those long past

I can’t remember their names

I just know that their time

Far too early they came.

 

I see their souls  still 

Standing proud

As they battled till the end

And I wish I could remember

All their names.

 

As they danced the game of death

I see each one shadily now

And I can’t remember their names

I know they had heads raised high

As they said their goodbyes.

 

Yes I dance with the ghosts

Of those long past.

They knew it wasn’t a game.

I just wish with my heart

I still could recall their names.

 

They never wanted to leave

Never wanted to leave.

So come back walz with me

My long lost ghosts.

Help me remember your names.

Certificate 18
Non-fiction
Falklands and war
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by airyfairy on

A marvellous poem.  

There's a little typo in the last verse - should be 'waltz'?

Submitted by Mentalelf on

Thank you for your comments and reading. Appreciated.

Kia Kaha (Maori .... "stay strong")

Submitted by Mentalelf on

Thank you for reading and your kind words... ive corrected the typo. Cheers. 

Kia Kaha (Maori .... "stay strong")

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

I suppose remembering names you feel would give them individuality, but you have that sense anyway of their being each important.

I find it so easy to muddle up names even when I remember so much about the individuals, but my husband was a teacher, and he felt he had the kids' respect (and attention!) if he quickly memorised all their names. Rhiannon

 

Submitted by Mentalelf on

Well yes I do remember friends names, but there were so many dead whose names I never new, Others I have forgotten. The point of the poem was that people are forgotten or unknown to all, yet all deserve thier name remembering. As you say there is a fear of losing peoples identity through the passing of years or just bad memory. I worked for the NHS for a while in Mental Health and I too made a point, an important one to remember names. Its valuable.

Kia Kaha (Maori .... "stay strong")

Submitted by celticman on

names carry a certain weight, and, of course, you know, as a military man that only the names of ifficers were once recoreded when they fell. And the unknown soldier as a memorial is so powerful because his name is unknown. it was thought better to leave it that way. 

 

Submitted by Mentalelf on

Yes celticman its true. Theyre the saddest of graves in the cemetries "Unknown Soldier". 

Kia Kaha (Maori .... "stay strong")