On this date, 09 April 1917, 109 years ago, during WW1, the Canadian Corp stormed Vimy Ridge and won the day. But at a great cost. It was one of the few decisive victories of the First World War. And it was Canada’s day. One that enshrined all Canadians that we were indeed a mature nation unto ourselves and unto the world stage.
11,000 casualties, 3500 dead.
Here is a poem I wrote about that battle. Simply titled The Ridge.
The Ridge
Reflections are wise. Their true insight flies
Throughout our minds and forever binds us
To an eternal life that is devoid of strife.
Just peaceful thoughts, not restless, nor caught
Into that web of war, we tread
Pure madness bred our way to be
For as one we brand an ancestral land
As our spirits rise to embrace the sky
And shed away our fears.
Our thoughts of home, as our mothers roam
Among our graves, their faces brave
To the sadness here of men with fear
Yet for our nation’s prayers we died out there.
For our home sweet home, so far away
That knowledge bears as our passion flares
Within our hearts, to love, to shove
Our fears aside and run in stride
To get away from there.
Over top we’d go in whistled floes
That plundered us within gun sight foes.
Such madness…crushed, our brothers flush
With abject fear with those guns so near.
We prayed in silence for our leader’s guidance
For in them we trust, and as Canucks we thrust
So far ahead though we walked with dread.
With that barrage we shudder, our blanket cover,
Oh God we’re scared.
The earth it shakes… please mothers take us
To your arms and away from harm.
We fell in silence, as there’s no pride in violence
We looked ahead for behind ’s our dead.
Their faces seared, no longer feared
Just darkness now with thoughts that bow
To a light that’s gone, forever done.
For now, it seems our passion streams
Are ebbing some for our time has come.
We fought for glory, each life a story
With silent breath we faced cruel death.
Our youthful brash against madness crashed
Into the mud, the cold, the blood.
That Ridge has been a horror scene.
A Ridge that bears our lives and shares
Blood curdling chills, then silence… killed.
And down we go with our cries now still
Just silent prayers to loved ones shared…so far from there.
The death knell rings for our lives and brings
A peace you share from that Ridge out there.
It is peace we pave to our silent graves
With a peace we share in God’s love’s lair.
For we were men of arms, a brotherhood
And beyond that Ridge is your nationhood.
With souls set free our spirits now see
Just peaceful lands and a national brand…
your nation ‘s free!
Yet horrendous loss this madness cost…Canadians!
Please…remember us
© John Morrison, Manotick Ontario, 2005
Vimy memorial, Arras France.