Poem To Forgotten Cemaes Heroes

by Alix Warren
(Bull Bay, Amlwch)

On again to Cemaes Bay, along the A5025 north easterly from Llanrhyddlad.

Do not follow the bye-pass but drive slowly into the village, taking the first left at the roundabout.

If you are not careful you might miss the memorial in Cemaes. Situated up the High Street, on the left-hand side and just after the roundabout, it is not on the usual tourist path.

A memorial for both wars, it sits in a little garden behind a chain fence. Proudly it boasts of two heroes.

A Military Cross was won in the Great War and the Distinguished Flying Medal in the 2nd World War.

'We will remember' them boasts the inscription in both Welsh and English, and little wooden crosses grow out of terracotta plant pots.


IVY


I've been told that ivy grew around your name
And choked the very recollection of your deeds.
And that, in a village that holds a reputation for
Flower filled boxes and grass verges free from weeds.

How could the people of this pretty seaside town -
the very image of a perfect picture painted card,
forget to tend their heroes, who lie forgotten
and treated with such casual disregard?

†