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In 1998, for that year's Remembrance Day, I wrote a poem to be aired on the radio stations -- 98.1 CHFI and 680News -- that I worked for at the time. The poem was recorded (voiced by the late Gary Miles, produced by John Howard) and has aired on that station and others each November 11th ever since.
To hear it, click here.
For those who have asked for a transcript, it is below:
I REMEMBER
A Remembrance Day Poem by James Keith Norman
I remember that instant,
when the guns fell silent.
I stood in a trench eight-feet deep,
ice and mud up to my ankles.
My bare and frozen hands
clutching my rifle,
the fear of dying as strong as ever.
When the guns fell silent,
I heard no cheers.
I heard moans and cries of injured comrades,
long drowned out by
the terrifying bombardments.
I heard the wind,
sounding like the last breaths
of the many who had perished beside me.
I heard a stuttered, sobbing thanks to God
that this war was over,
when the guns fell silent.
And when the guns fell silent,
I heard a woman
whom I had never met,
speak my name with great love.
I heard a child not yet conceived
call me father.
I heard my voice,
raspy with great age,
speaking to children
who would call me Grandpa.
I heard my future,
my family’s future,
the future of generations to come
and for which so many
had fought and died.
I heard the past few years
and the many years to come.
I heard them both – hell and heaven –
when the guns fell silent.