On a very different Cambuslang Remembrance Sunday, our Treasurer Brian Fisher laid a wreath on behalf of Cambuslang Community Council at the memorial in Cambuslang Park. Only a limited number of elected members and representatives of local churches and other organisations were able to participate owing to Covid-19 restrictions.
On this especially quiet Remembrance Sunday, we include below ‘Silence: Sonnet for Remembrance Day’ written by Malcolm Guite.
November pierces with its bleak remembrance
Of all the bitterness and waste of war.
Our silence tries but fails to make a semblance
Of that lost peace they thought worth fighting for.
Our silence seethes instead with wraiths and whispers,
And all the restless rumour of new wars,
The shells are falling all around our vespers,
No moment is unscarred, there is no pause,
In every instant bloodied innocence
Falls to the weary earth ,and whilst we stand
Quiescence ends again in acquiescence,
And Abel’s blood still cries in every land
One silence only might redeem that blood
Only the silence of a dying God.
On this day we remember also our former Secretary, Hamish B Allan and our former Chair, David Thomson – both of whom previously laid the Remembrance Day wreath on behalf of the Community Council – and our former colleague Dave Sutton. Hamish, David and Dave all sadly passed away over the past two years.