V. E Day 70th Anniversary remembered.

Giving thanks for those who made the ultimate sacrifice in the face of an evil that threatened all of us
we remember the suffering and the joy of this day 70years ago.

The Blitz In Ealing

From the collection: Nine Lessons from the Dark by Adam Thorpe

You crouched under the table as the ceiling 

Rained down flour and the lights went out. Upstairs 

Whole chunks played the devil with the bed 

Still warm from your dreams 

And the clues of hands and haunch and head.

But you weren’t there, crushed 

Beneath the latticework of laths, 

Though the air’s arch concussed you into dark 

To bring you round to such amazing quiet 

You were sure you were in Heaven, a graceful park

Coasting to a cry, which was yours, and then 

The familiar kitchen was crawling out of dust 

Into time you weren’t, after all, denied... 

The All Clear siren and the shrills of bells 

And the neighbours unhooked from the brick slide

That was next door’s up to minutes ago 

Groaning on the sofa, bleeding in the hall - 

And you knew now where you were, you said 

(standing in the street by your own front door) 

the fiery light dancing on the stockinged dead.

70 years ago this nation stood together to end a titanic struggle again Nazi Germany, a struggle that involved every citizen from these united kingdoms. For many there was joy and jubilation for many more there was a more sober and stunned response as they recalled all that had been lost and sacrificed in the struggle against an evil that strove to deny life and all that we value as a modern democratic society

Today the nation stands outside polling booths to cast their vote for those who will make choices that will affect all of us. We are able to enter the polling booths because of the sacrifice of those who have gone before us. We are able to have a say in who we believe should govern us, it is a gift as well as a right. let us use it well.