WordsOut poems by Godfrey Rust  | collection Welcome To The Real World ← 44 of 59 → | home   

Normandy

Daily at Bayeux the invasion fleet—
magnificent in woven green and gold— 

sails to its bloody destiny to free
England from a coming age of darkness; 

and hourly at Arromanches the invasion fleet—
in IMAX vision and surrounding sound— 

steams to its bloody destiny to free
England from a coming age of darkness 

and plough back Norman blood into this landscape—
as grey as newsreel, flat as tapestry— 

and always here at Douvres-la-Délivrande
British and German souls lie quietly, 

all conquest done, ambition satisfied,
mingled in European earth forever.

Tessa's great uncle George is buried in the First World War cemetery at Douvres-la-Délivrande.