Angus Peter Campbell
Dawn, 1st July 1916, The Somme
DawnWritten and read by Angus Peter Campbell
by Angus Peter Campbell
At this very moment
Catrìona will be milking the cow.
Her beautiful hands soothing the udder,
the milk squirting into the wooden pail.
Later, she will make cheese.
We crouch here, waiting
in the mist.
Death has been delayed by the weather for days.
The silver sun rises in the east
and the haze vanishes:
What a perfect day to harness the horse for ploughing,
to walk down to the machair to check on the potatoes.
Now the guns roar
And the whistles blow
And we rise, running forward in our thousands -
Sons, fathers, brothers, lovers, comrades.
If we die, we die for each other.
If I live, I live for Catriona alone.
The Western Front, 2016
We walk in groups,
The Western Front, 2016Written and read by Angus Peter Campbell
led by guides down
wooden walkways
(they are installing disabled access)
The engraved signs and illuminated maps
make cartography of the carnage,
while the millions of white crosses
mark the democracy of death.
Some leave the group,
find a place to stand alone,
thinking of Hans and Donald
chocking here in the gas and mud.
Legs and skulls have been swept away.
Today is a beautiful Summer’s morning.
The birds sing their angelus in the trees,
the apples hang from the branches:
The guide tells us this was an orchard
long before the guns roared,
though this sacred silence will not see Eden restored.
I think of the Gaelic proverb:
‘S e deireadh gach cogadh sìth:
The end of every war is peace.
There is thunder in the air.