oskar hansen

The Aristocratic War.



A lone burgundy poppy, amongst the weed on

verge of the lane remembers World War 1,

few wars- this so romantic English war- are as

well recorded. Verdun and stinking mud, many

poems written (not that verses ever stopped

the juggernaut of war.) Plinths and cenotaph,

statues of generals -covered in bird droppings-

astride bronze horses, in every town. Lest we

forget that this is the only war where the upper

classes died, on the battlefield, in equal numbers

as the common soldier. and that, I suspect, is

why it is so well documented.