Beaumaris War Memorial, Near The Town Church

by Alix Warren
(Bull Bay, Amlwch)

The monument to the men and boys of Beaumaris stands in front of the town church. Another Celtic cross, but this time so elegantly tall, it seems to be trying to see over the roof-tops across to the Straits.

The carved inscription from the Great War has all but faded into the stone; the names of those killed in both World Wars read bright and clean etched on slate.

Death has no respect for class. Together with the humble privates, Major R.G. Williams Bulkeley of the Welsh Guards, a son of one of Anglesey's premier families is also remembered.

An obelisk stands on Cremlyn Hill just outside Beaumaris, in honour to one of Major Bulkeley ancestors - Sir Richard Bulkeley. Until 1925 the Bulkeleys owned Beaumaris Castle.


GULLS

Like the gulls
do you ever come and sit
upon this lofty perch,
and look across the graveyard
to the church?
And do you ever
settle on the cross,
and scan the words
below of sacrifice and loss?
Some have faded now
into the past.
But others, carved on slate
were made to last.

Perhaps your son
is listed there,
and he joins you
in the pale cool air
to revisit once again
the narrow lanes
and castle by the green.

Like the gulls
do you ever come and sit
upon the seaside wall
and listen as the mountains
call?
And do you ever glide
above the pier and
reminisce
of things held dear?
Do you regret you've never
walked together to the Old Bull's Head
and drunk a pint of ale
and shared desires left unsaid.

But you are dead now.
Little tragedies of war,
and whilst the gulls swoop between the bridges
you are just sepia memories
buried in a drawer.

†