Peace

| November 10, 2023

Le Francport: 5:45 a.m. The signature at this place…at this time…near to Compiènge went into effect at 11:00 a.m. marking an armistice between warring nations. The document signed by French Marshal Ferdinand Foch was only the beginning as this day, 11 November 1918, though a peace was not a formal surrender with Germany. Prior to […]

Back to the Somme: Part 6

| August 31, 2023

Delicate Hope Its been a long while…our last visit to the Somme. This day we end our Somme series (for the time being)…no doubt there will be a return. The last actual walk was August 2018 – a drive from Ypres to the Somme with friends and family…Rosemary…at long last has learned why this ground […]

My dear soldier friend

| November 11, 2020

2020-11-11 My dear soldier friend, Again, I see you upon the high ground ever watchful. Each year we visit. Your sharp-eyed gaze has again passed across these horizons a hundred tens of thousands of times…Your watch… infinite…embedded within you, all that have passed, all here this day and all you know who will follow…this due…to […]

And the leaves of the tree…

| November 10, 2018

…were for the healing of the nations Revelations XXII.2 Today we gather our thoughts before the day ahead. Tomorrow…what will we feel…what is to be…? Still – this day, is a chance for gathering our thoughts before the morrow…it is a chance to pause previous to the emotions of the current ending. I often speak […]

The Colour of Peace

| August 12, 2018

Thread Eight Despite those of us who have been drawn to Ypres because of the Great War there are other colours to this town. It is alive and filled with the voices of today and hopes for the future. Ypres – Ieper is filled with community – its own community – its own people. There is colour […]