Reflections from Tyne Cot Cemetery

Reflections on a visit to Tyne Cot cemetery near Passendale site of 3rd battle of Ypres July 1917

The deathly silence was broken by the roar of motorbikes
Old and Young out on a Sunday morning on a breakfast run
Young men out to have some fun
And yet, these young men who lay here buried below
Cold in their graves under the sun
Young men whose lives were taken while still so young


The sound of the motorbikes dissipate
And the silence returns And I reflect again on those young men, 
On what they could have become, what potential lies buried beneath my feet
And later on the same day as we attend a nightly remembrance under the Mennin Gate, 
the crowd becomes silent as the buglers play" The Last Post" the sound carried aloft and heavenward.
So emotive, so evocative as the last note hangs in the air. 
The crowd dispenses in silence as they carry with themselves the memory 
of so many young lives lost in the futility of war 


Lesley Whitley
August 2025