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.