Shot at Dawn ~ PTSD
Renaissance ~ Third Edition
THEY SAID he was a coward.
He would not be drawn.
They said he was a coward
They shot him at dawn.
His friend applied the blindfold
three refused to fire;
they, too, court-martialled
They, too, would not be drawn.
The sergeant gave the order,
with anger in his voice
not with him;
with the officer.
His mind went blank
He crumpled to the floor
His soul, though, bolt upright,
unrepentent, alive.
Tho’ darkness descended
on the line of men,
The Light
enveloped him
as the blindfold fell off.
The officer walked over
… paused …
fired one shot
into the shaking corpse
but he’d left already
on his journey
to His Throne.
He knew he was right
He knew he was strong
He knew he was brave
He knew he was alive.
He cried ... the pain of his friends
Best mates,
brothers-in-arms
Gallant, all of 'em
To the last man.
Now?
He looks on … his descendants
three generations
nine decades on
And tho’ they cannot see him
He knows - they know now
who he is.
His niece,
What joy he feels
His name is clean and honoured.
His family name lives on
in his brother's son
his great nephew's son
the cover, even, of this book.
No cenotaph inscription
It does not really matter ...
His name emblazoned
on that greatest Cenotaph of all.
They said he was a coward
They shot him at dawn
But three generations on
that third generation has stood
where once he fought
... before, that is,
they charged him with cowardice
and shot him at dawn.
They have seen the poppies
in Flanders Fields
but get this ...
they wear one too,
even for me, he ponders
And my nephew
has my Bible
runs his finger
across my signature
from 1906
They said he was a coward
They shot him at dawn
His family knows differently
That counts for much,
known to none,
known to some,
known unto GOD
NOW THAT! : counts for all ...
Composed : December 15, 2005 in Liverpool
11 November 2021
All Rights Reserved
© 2023 Kenneth Thomas Webb
Author Note
First published by Spiderwize in the author’s first anthology : Idle Thoughts : An Anthology of Poetry and Prose in September 2009.
This Third Edition is in the Third Person, whereas the First edition was in the First Person. 16 years on, it is right to do so. It is right, too, to add the stanza regarding the 1906 signature in the bible. That, indeed, is a regular act of remembrance.
Lest We Forget
These three images were taken by me at the Northamptonshire Military Memorial Cemetery on May 16, 2017. I have left my kitbag in situ to give the close proximity. My umbrella represents the .303 rifle I sometimes carry on exercises in the 1980s-1990s. Where the five small conifers stand, is the position the soldiers would take up. The stark posts in the background represent the post to which a soldier would be placed. Each post bears the name, rank, service number and regiment with whom he served.
Ken Webb is a writer and proofreader. His website, kennwebb.com, showcases his work as a writer, blogger and podcaster, resting on his successive careers as a police officer, progressing to a junior lawyer in succession and trusts as a Fellow of the Institute of Legal Executives, a retired officer with the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, and latterly, for three years, the owner and editor of two lifestyle magazines in Liverpool.
He also just handed over a successful two year chairmanship in Gloucestershire with Cheltenham Regency Probus.
Pandemic aside, he spends his time equally between his city, Liverpool, and the county of his birth, Gloucestershire.
In this fast-paced present age, proof-reading is essential. And this skill also occasionally leads to copy-editing writers’ manuscripts for submission to publishers and also student and post graduate dissertations.
