Remembrance - Friday 11 November 2022
On Friday 11 November at Glyn School, we held a Remembrance Service and two minute silence to commemorate the service personnel who lost their lives in times of conflict. Every year at Glyn School, we remember and honour the thirty three ‘Old Boys’ who gave their lives preserving our freedom. They were schoolboys one day and the next they had the destiny of civilisation in their hands, as they were conscripted onto the battlefield.
In English lessons, Year 11 students are studying Power and Conflict poetry, whereby many poems explore soldiers’ first-hand experiences during war and conflict, and the psychological and physical effects of war. Ezekiel (11D) was inspired by the poems ‘Bayonet Charge’ and ‘Storm on the Island’, and he wrote an emotive and thought-provoking poem on the ‘World of War’ and how unfortunately we still live in a world where conflict and war remains, and he emotively and poignantly questions the devastation and futility caused by war - ‘Isn’t it odd, how war itself restarts war?’
Ezekiel’s poem was entered into the ‘Power of Poetry’ competition, which was an exciting, and immersive poetry competition that gave students inspiration on how to use the power of poetry to express their opinions and creativity through words and poetry techniques. His poem was chosen as a winning entry and will feature in the book ‘The Power of Poetry: Their World: Their Words’ and he has won ‘The Young Writers' Award of Excellence’. This is a brilliant achievement, which highlights how poetry can be used as a vehicle to not only express your emotions, but also your viewpoints and perspectives on themes, and topical events that are pertinent in the world around us.
‘World of War’
The Soldiers all marched, ready to fight,
Assured they’ll return for Christmas Eve night,
The Great War begins, get to the shore,
But what is so great about going to war?
“War To End All Wars.” That’s what they said,
But never that six million would wind up dead,
So twenty years went by. Then death returned to the doors,
Another one. How was it a war to end all wars?
Now surely there’s peace, the safety’s been curled,
But the War is now Cold, and out of this world,
And people are fighting for what happened before,
Korea, Vietnam, Iraq. Tell us, please, what’s with this war?
But people never learn that violence doesn’t help,
It causes children to scream, cry, weep, and yelp,
It leaves us all vulnerable and painfully unsure,
So why? Who does it help when you’re starting a war?
But conflicts remain and the world’s on the brink,
Now more deaths after a deathly pandemic,
Now Russia and Ukraine, an unwelcome encore,
So when will be the war that ends all wars?
The sickness is power and the power breaks laws,
But when will they realise that we’re all vulnerable?
A bomb. A tank. And just one more.
Isn’t it odd, how war itself restarts war?
Written by Ezekiel (11D)
