A Day To Remember

WITH THANKS
FROM

Diana Steven

I turn on the tube

and watch some ceremony,

than hear a soldier talk of letting go

the hate that came with battle’s harm.

In halting words

he shares the time he sat on sand

in a circle of men,

a few from his company

and some from the so-called foe।

He sat there listening,

trying to make sense of a fight with no end,

‘til a man with an axe struck him hard

on the back of his head.

No Call of Duty game here,

no quick recovery.

And yet his faith in peace,

like the light of the sun,

was not snuffed out by an enemy’s blow.

Diana Says

I wrote the following poem during my days as a couples therapist. How easy it is to lose yourself in the one you love. It was an issue I struggled with myself. How do you hold onto your identity and still embrace togetherness? This idea surfaced for many in the 70s, often coined as the ME decade, but it’s still relevant today. I’ve added an audio file, as Brian Brett — a Canadian poet who recently won the CBC literary prize for poetry — recommended the poem be read aloud to get its full intent.


Reference