Dunkirk.

 

Ten days! two hundred hours;

Fourteen thousand four hundred minutes.

Three hundred and twenty thousand soldiers.

Twenty three lives caught in every minute.

Turned and twisted, challenged and devastated.

 

Hero!

The word does not say enough.

Every man who gave his youth

aged beneath troubled skies

on savage beaches in time

trapped in memory forever.

 

Sailors; Soldiers; Airmen.

Caught in the most dire of confrontations

collectively gave Britain its reprieve

provided the bulwark against annihilation.

 

Churchill called for the right response.

Those who responded achieved the right result.

Civilian and military casualty contributed bravely.

Without their sacrifice we would have paid severely.

 

The death blow was not delivered

tho' death marched upon them.

raw pluck provided the bastion

to slow the aggressor.

 

Leadership at many levels

supported those who fought,

led through watery graves

vessels intent on purposeful despatch

countering severe odds.

 

A mined sea, the Channel,

tested those who cleared and traversed it.

Bombed beaches and harbours

called for much courage.

 

How would we have freedom to look back,

if freedom had not cost such a price?

Those minutes on those days

should remind each of us

that our gallant 'boys' paid for each one then

and for every minute we have enjoyed since.

 

Will George  © Feb. 26, 04

Will George Poet

will-george-poet.co.uk