The Time Traveller

Gratitude starts here

Looking out at what was once No-Man's Land during the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, 2012, photo by Randy Woods

As I grow through my unexpected Plan B plans, I have learned practising gratitude has a positive correlation to contentment and the quiet sustaining joy in my life. This poem below was written when I found myself emotional and swelling with gratitude while I toured the North of France. I am so thankful for the sacrifices so many made during World War I and II, including the spouses and children who sent them. I stopped in my tracks when I looked up and saw my then 12 year old son sitting on the edge of what was the trench delineating No-man’s Land in the war. 12 years old. Only 6 years away from being drafted. The ghosted mothers of the era sang their mournful Fado ballads while the wind whistled through the trees. This poem is dedicated to the Canadian families of Maple Blood who believed we could live in a brave, bright world.  

The Time Traveller at Juno Cemetery

Standing where you stood.
My heart beating where you bled.
I have come from the same Maple Blood 
Across the Sea. 
The wind whistles your story to me.
I listen but cannot hear
The narrative that became your swan song.

Guilt that I cannot hear the whispers
Perhaps that is your sacrifice
The gift that I will never
Know the horrors
You sealed in this foreign grave
For me. 

You rest in pieces.
I rest in peace. 

July 2012.

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