Ten years ago I saw on TV an American veteran of D-Day meet his German counter part on the 6th June 2004 and was moved by their reconciliation. I wrote the following.
For a German Soldier
D-day sixty years on 6th June 1944 – 2004
Lonely man among men
facing the sea
you waited, watching
faceless, the invisible enemy.
Six decades on
No reunion
No gratitude
No parades
No pride
No end
Just
night visions filled with
‘They that grow not old’.
And the job you had to do
the foe, a to harvest to scythe
a shell’s length on the beach
until bloody and blunted
they found a way to relieve
you of your duty.
And the faces took on form
And the waiting was no more
And the survivor’s guilt began
And the wrench of thanksgiving.
Soldiers, humans
but for geography
brothers in Arms
recognise the other.
Like them,
your deeds haunt your days
and your nights, the fallen.
You return
to remember before
you too cease to age
and take the hand
of a lone American
who, once faceless
on that beach faced
you, Lone Man.
Sixty years break down
sharing more than all
that held them apart
Lone Men, No more.
©John Daniels 2013
