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2017 EVERGREEN 33<br />
visited these places, long ago in the Great<br />
War.<br />
Our coach took us first to Poperinge, where<br />
we visited the fine town hall and admired the<br />
heroic Belgian war memorial, complete with<br />
Flemish flag fluttering in the autumn breeze.<br />
Yet the town hall had a dark secret, for inside,<br />
in a little open-air square, stands a post — quite<br />
literally, a last post. Here they shot deserters<br />
and cowards, but not before those<br />
cowering souls had spent the night,<br />
or day, in a tiny cell. Our party,<br />
and the few other visitors who<br />
were there that day became silent<br />
and thoughtful. At that moment,<br />
I wondered how I might have<br />
behaved when faced with the fear<br />
of the grey sky over the trenches;<br />
Thousands of graves at Tyne Cot.