ON THE TRAMP
In October sun on one of the benches
beside our local War Memorial,
directly opposite the new Co-op,
in mid-morning, an unknown man and woman,
dressed for outdoors and bulkily like folk
wearing many layers, are leaning together
in sleep like children, or marionettes.
Road traffic slows, pedestrians stare –
at adults kipping in seemingly clean clothes,
with brightly coloured backpacks by their sides,
before noon in a public, suburban space.
The sandstone cenotaph has last November’s
plastic poppy wreaths weathering at its base,
and among the names some still missing.
A bitter place to rest!
Harvey Lillywhite
October 13, 2023‘kipping’ – what a nice word
‘cenotaph’ – new one on me (so much to learn about the English language!).
The point of a cenotaph is to memorialize those buried elsewhere or missing.
So many possibilities now. The kipping couple juxtaposed with the cenotaph makes them seem like the missing bodies? But, luckily, they’re just on the tramp…for a bit, like the rest of us. I love how simple observations/descriptions can become fraught with meaning.