A soldier's story

I'm a bit scared of poems.  They do their best to bamboozle me and usually succeed.    So it was with a certain amount of trepidation last month that I got involved in the Bridlington Poetry Festival and offered Bempton Cliffs as a fringe venue.

To get in the mood (and in an attempt to overcome my fear of iambic pentameters), I asked staff and volunteers to send me their favourite poem to display around the reserve.  The response suggests there are a few more poetry scaredy-cats out there but the recommendations that did arrive in my in-box were just brilliant.   And one in particular had a profound effect on a visitor.

Peter Hall spotted volunteer John Bairstow's selection, ‘Unless you’ve been a Soldier’ by Clive Sanders.   Mr Hall , the father of two soldiers currently serving their country -  Captain Martin Hall with the Royal Artillery and Sgt Major James Hall with the Parachute Regiment  - immediately felt an affinity with the words chosen by John, who also served in the forces.      

When Mr Hall returned home to Bridlington he phoned us to request two copies - one for each son.  

Both are 'career' soldiers and Mr Hall has lost count of the countries his lads have been to:

‘They’ve been on active service all over the world.  Both have done tours in Iraq and Afghanistan.  The younger one also served in Kosovo.   At one stage in their careers they were both guards in the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland’.

He felt the two verses of the poem simply summed up their experiences of warfare:

‘They must’ve seen some sights but they’ve come through without a scratch.   I’m grateful for that and very proud of their achievements.’

Happily for Mr Hall both his sons are now stationed closer to home.  Captain Hall is at Heddon-on-the- Wall, near Newcastle and Sgt Major Hall is at Topcliffe near Thirsk.

And speaking of closer to home...Mr Hall used to visit Bempton Cliffs as a boy but he didn't come to see the birds.  On Sunday afternoons he'd help heave the ‘climmers’, locals who descended the 400 feet high cliffs on ropes to collect seabird eggs, up the cliffs before the activity became illegal.    Now somebody must've written a poem about that.   Any offers?     

 Meanwhile, here's the poem, that inspired Mr Hall to get in touch:

. 

Unless you’ve been a soldier

Unless you’ve been a soldier,

you just won’t understand,

The things that we have seen and done

in the service of our land.

We have trained to live in combat,

To cope with awful sights,

That shouldn’t be seen by anyone,

And keep you awake at nights.

We won’t discuss the wounds we have,

To the body or the mind,

We just put our hurts behind us

And turn our memories to blind.

We are proud to serve our country,

And remember those we have lost,

For the freedom that you have today,

They paid the awful cost.

Clive Sanders