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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.

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