ALMOST ASHES

 

A room, just a room. Feel the sense of history

here, heavy as lead and as poignant as pain.

Aspects come into focus, heavy thick carpets,

waxed English tables. Silence. Total.

A view on a room, from the doorway after.

What went on here? What decisions were made?

History’s biggest gamble, to fail paid in blood

and men and tears.

To succeed glory for a generation,

stories to tell your grandchildren.

Onto foreign beaches defended by Nazi steel,

many are slain, boys not yet men.

Yet the cost to be paid, the only way to do this,

both simple and complex all at once.

Looking back now, it all worked out,

the Nazi hold on Europe shattered,

millions freed from tyranny and despair and death.

History is kind, to some. D-Day worked,

Hitler’s back broken. If it had failed

would our world be black as ashes?