Where Hope Springs Eternal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber

Armistice Day in the UK and around the world is commemorated every year on November 11th to mark the armistice signed between the allies of World War 1 and Germany for the cessation of all hostilities on the Western Front which took effect from the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918. Even so, a formal peace agreement was only reached when the Treaty of Versailles was signed the following year.

In 1920, a body was brought from France to be buried in Westminster Abbey on 11th November; the grave, which contains soil from France, is covered by a slab of black Belgian marble from a quarry near Namur. 

Tomb of the Unknown Warrior, Westminster Abbey.

The ceremony at Westminster Abbey today was scaled down to reflect the need to social distancing due to Covid-19; it was particularly poignant as it is 100 years since its arrival and as we continue to fight another World War with the coronavirus.

WHERE HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL

Anonymous, yet as analogous
with Everyman as any of us, well-deserving
a State funeral
as any member of the armed forces
making the ultimate sacrifice
so that others might yet live in peace
despite humanity’s inclination
to give as good as it gets, the greater provocation
guaranteeing an invitation

No sure identity to shape an image
in the minds of any who would visit my grave,
yet weepy eyes,
will summon a mind-body-spirit clearer
than any light of day
and younger, gentler, than any springtime;
forever anonymous, yes,
but never friendless, a presence no less synonymous
with love than it ever was 

Family, friend, lover, whomsoever
shall be reconciled with me on Freedom Road,
know me instantly,
fall into my arms with all the intensity
of emotion for which humanity
is too often inclined to pretend it has forgotten;
reconciliation second to none,
a celebration of such life forces as remembrance inspires
in dark places, at home fires 

I am that Unknown Warrior, so named, that such sacrifice
as made in (any) war may help win and keep the peace

Copyright R. N. Taber,
(Nov. 11^th 2020)