“Those whose sacrifice this Cenotaph commemorates were among the men
who, at call of King and Country, left all that was dear, endured hardship,
faced danger, and finally passed from the sight of men by the path of
duty, giving their own lives that others might live in freedom. Let those
who come after see to it that their names be not forgotten.”
At the War Memorial
The sun was out when I got there. I went out in it, and I saw a young person– a student – I thought, lying on the slanted lawn of the war memorial. He was pale as a cave cricket. I was squinting as I came down the steps through the park. The sun was in my eyes.
“…pale as a cave cricket…”
IMAGE: www.flickr.com/photos/freewheeler2go/2654992443/
Another man was walking fast toward me using a cane, one leg straight, so he humped forward like a fast-moving inchworm. He reached the war memorial while I was still under the deep shade of the big trees there – chestnuts, maybe or Bigleaf Maples. The sunbathing man didn’t look up at the sound of the metal cane hitting the cement.
The limping man– I believe he was a soldier because he dropped to the ground stiff as an ant. He stacked one leg on top of the other and did 50 push-ups. He was magnificent. I thought of the leaf cutter ants in the Amazon, the way they march over the duff of the dead holding bright green bits of leaf over their heads. Thousands of them march in a line as far as the eye can see, and each is strong and magnificent and carries a leaf over his head.
Leaf-cutters on the eternal march….
IMAGE: http://albertan1956.blogspot.com/2011/01/leaf-cutter-ants-overachievers-of.html
As I reached the bottom step and hurried forward as if to address the man, he got up and delivered a passionate salute to the memorial. He turned on his good heel and limped away into the jungle maze of Vancouver.
The student still slept in the sun as I circled the war memorial. I looked at it curiously. I wondered what the man saw in it. I felt like I was missing something. The sun stayed out all day, and the next day it rained..
NOTE: The Cenotaph is in Victory Square in Vancouver, B.C.
The engraved inscriptions are:
Facing Hastings Street: “Their name liveth for evermore,” and, within a stone wreath, “1914-1918.”
Facing Hamilton Street: “Is it nothing to you?”
Facing Pender Street: “All ye that pass by…”
