Language was the absolute key to all of this

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Saturday, 2 November 2013

Boots on the Cenotaph

 
Boots on the Cenotaph
by
David Williams
 
They weren't there when I went passed before,
but here, now, on the steps of the cenotaph
were the boots of the unknown soldier.
They could have belonged to the Big Issue Seller
or a member of the Army of the Homeless but there was nobody else around.
So I could only surmise that these were the boots
worn by lions led by donkeys
at Mons, Ypres, Gallipoli and Passchendaele where 13,000 men were lost in 3 hours.
Haig's comment was 'Mostly gamekeepers and servants' 
These were the boots taken off at Talbot House
and placed on the table to bring bad luck to all that wore them.
Each one of the Accrington Pals wore these boots.
These boots were worn whilst digging trenches, whilst kicking rats and knocking in fences.
These were the boots that scrambled over the top at the blast of the shrill whistle.
These were the boots that they were buried in but somehow they have found their way back across the channel and worked their way through the concrete for Us to realise
that they were real men
that wore them. 

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David's books

How To Be Idle
Second Sight
Freud: The Key Ideas
The Yellow World
Intimacy: Trusting Oneself and the Other
Going Mad?: Understanding Mental Illness
Back To Sanity: Healing the Madness of Our Minds
Ham on Rye
Electroboy: A Memoir of Mania
Memories, Dreams, Reflections
Mavericks
Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
I Bought a Mountain
Hovel in the Hills: An Account of the Simple Life
Ring of Bright Water
The Thirty-Nine Steps
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose
The Power of Now: A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment
The Seat of the Soul


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