\nPasschendaele…..<\/span>Ypres…<\/span>and Somme
\n…………….<\/span>three ovals float
\n…………….<\/span>on the cold wall
\nplastered whiter
\n………………………………..<\/span>than their bones,
\nyoung, khaki\u2019d,
\n…………………..<\/span>their bud-tender eyes
\n…………………..<\/span>premonition filled.<\/p>\n
Ellen, ………….<\/span>Thomas Isaac and Ben. \u00a9 Lorna Staveley Anker, 1914 – 2000<\/p>\n From The Judas Tree<\/strong>, edited by Bernadette Hall, Canterbury University Press, 2013<\/p>\n Reproduced with permission.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Bernadette Hall, the editor of the recently published Lorna Staveley Anker anthology, The Judas Tree<\/strong>, provided the following note:<\/p>\n \u201cWhen Lorna was a very small child, she lived for a time with her grandmother, Ellen. This poem arises from her wartime memories of her grandmother\u2019s grief stricken household.\u00a0 This is the most frequently published of Lorna\u2019s poems. It was included in Lauris Edmond\u2019s 1986 collection of prose and poetry \u2018Women in Wartime\u2019<\/strong>.\u00a0 And in the first Australasian volume of women\u2019s poetry \u2018Kiwi & Emu\u2019<\/strong>\u2018, 1989, edited by Barbara Petrie. A copy of the poem lies in the tomb of the Unknown Warrior in front of the National War Memorial in Wellington.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Ellen\u2019s Vigil ……..Benjamin……..Isaac…….Tom Passchendaele…..Ypres…and Somme …………….three ovals float …………….on the cold wall plastered whiter ………………………………..than their bones, young, khaki\u2019d, …………………..their bud-tender eyes …………………..premonition filled. Ellen, her three boys gone, ………………transplanted seventy years ……………………from Lurgan\u2019s linen no longer counts crops ……………………………………in season …..but digs, diligently, delicately, …………………………………….digs down ……………………………………….further down …..her spade searching ……………………her garden for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-other-writers","category-poetry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25395"}],"version-history":[{"count":19,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25395\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25423,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25395\/revisions\/25423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nher three boys gone,
\n………………<\/span>transplanted seventy years
\n……………………<\/span>from Lurgan\u2019s linen
\nno longer counts crops
\n……………………………………<\/span>in season
\n…..<\/span>but digs, diligently, delicately,
\n…………………………………….<\/span>digs down
\n……………………………………….<\/span>further down
\n…..<\/span>her spade searching
\n……………………<\/span>her garden for
\n……….<\/span>three lost sons
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/judas_tree-100x150.jpg\" "\\"judas_tree\\"")
<\/a>Over the past four years since joining the Tuesday Poem community I have featured a considerable number of other poets “of a Tuesday”, so over the next while will be refeaturing all those who have have had more than one poem posted here. As this is ANZAC week I will begin with Lorna Staveley Anker’s Ellen’s Vigil<\/em>. The poem was first featured on September 13 last year.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/helenlowe.info\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/TuesPoem.jpg\" "\\"TuesPoem\\"")
<\/a>To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub<\/strong> and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here<\/strong><\/a> or on the Quill<\/strong> icon <\/strong>in the sidebar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"