Remembrance Day

A Soldier’s Cemetery

Behind that long and lonely trenched line
To which men come and go, where brave men die,
There is a yet unmarked and unknown shrine,
A broken plot, a soldier’s cemetery.

There lie the flower of youth, the men who scorn’d
To live (so died) when languished Liberty:
Across their graves flowerless and unadorned
Still scream the shells of each artillery.

Then war shall cease this lonely unknown spot
Of many a pilgrimage will be the end,
And flowers will shine in this now barren plot
And fame upon it through the years descend:
But many a heart upon each simple cross
Will hang the grief, the memory of its loss.

–Sergeant John William Streets, 12th Battalion York & Lancaster Regiment, killed in action, the Somme, 1 July 1916.

Lest we forget.

Family and croft first

I’ve been receiving numerous peevish messages from readers of the blog who feel it’s their right to get a daily serving of Musings From A Stonehead.

They make it clear that they have an expectation that I will provide them with an new and entertaining post whenever they choose to visit the blog.

Well, I hate to disappoint them but it’s not going to happen.

Easy for some

Today, most of the pigs moved to their winter quarters.

All they had to do was wait for the fences to come down, follow the feed bucket through the gaps, trot across to the new fields and pens, have a happy snuffle about, and finish by fluffing up the fresh beds in their houses.

Yes, very easy for them.

The morning after

When I went out to feed the pigs this morning, I found them standing resolutely in their favourite spot. Never mind that it was flooded. Never mind that they were slowly sinking until their bellies grounded in the mud. This is where they most like to stand while watching the world go by, and no amount of overnight rain, mud or water was going to change that.