Remembrance

'Here dead we lie because we did not choose
 To live and shame the land from which we sprung.
 Life, after all, is not so very much to lose...
 But young men think it is - and we were young'

This poem by A.E Houseman has always moved me so much and reminds me of the way those young, young men who volunteered so eagerly for service in World War One must have felt as they joined up. That they were upholding all that they held so dear, defending their beloved countries. And so many, so very many, never saw that much loved homeland again.

There have been wars before, wars since and wars still. But for me, the sheer scale of the loss of life, the futility of the sacrifice they made and the unimaginable reality of everyday life for those who fought, suffered, died or lived with the terrible images of what they'd seen held within them forever encapsulates the true meaning of Remembrance Day. We truly must never forget. xx