Brief, brave lives taken too young
                       bodies cast into mass graves
                       bodies beyond recognition
from the bullets, bayonets and mortar.

Poppies flourished from dead men’s blood.

Brief, brave lives immortalised
                        names cast into iron plates
                        names carved into polished sandstone
heaved from the land they called home.

Poppies, paper, fragile as life
                  remind us of 
their sacrifice.