270 words
“. . .Take up our quarrel with the foe
To you, from failing hands, we throw
the torch: be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die,
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.”
— excerpt from the poem “In Flanders Fields,” written on the battlefront on May 3, 1915, during the second battle of Ypres, Belgium, by Lt. Colonel John McCrae.
You would never see your
Beloved Belgium again.
The victors pronounced you
Persona non grata.
In the simmering stillness
Of Spanish summer nights,
How often did the rich rolling
Fields of Bouillon visit you
In dreams?
The laughter of children at play,
While your own stood mute,
Torn from you by the defenders
Of human rights: forever cursed
By the name Degrelle.
In a time of hope,
Down winding boulevards
Bedecked with flowers,
The cheers of the throng echoed
To the cadence of boots.
The church bells pealed joyously.
Your Church, refuge and fortress.
For you, the Knight’s Cross was
The Lord’s Cross.
Who but the faithful could have
Known it was a Holy War?
In the clear night
Under Belgian skies,
The men of Flanders stirred.
From their failing hands
They passed the torch to you.
In your hand it blazed
Like the sun; the sacred
Flame of the West.
Mostly forgotten now
Are the graves of Europe’s sons.
Within the frozen steppes of the East
They sleep fitfully: your beloved
Walloons, whose blood was spilt
On stony soil.
Their bounty will be reaped
By generations yet unborn.
“If I had a son, I would want him
To be like you.”
05/09/13
5 Comments
Fortunately, the comment section is open, so I can express my appreciation to the author. Being Belgian myself I consider Degrelle the greatest Belgian that has ever lived (after myself of course). In the current ‘upside down matrix’ he is of course completely demonized and – even more sadly – largely unknown to the younger generation.
Although I’ve somehow normally have a rather dislike for poems in general, I loved the recent postings by the author, and was epecially deeply moved by the poem ‘Kameradschaft’ – and its beautiful last paragraph in particular.
Keep up the good job.
I believe it was once joked that Léon Degrelle was a man of great Rex appeal.
Degrelle was one of the more spiritual fascist leaders. I have a copy of one of his early books, Révolution des âmes, which was later revised as Les âmes qui brûlent.
I’d love to get hold of the works of the Rexist author Jean Denis, Bases doctrinales de Rex and Principes rexistes, but they seem to be virtually impossible to get. The lengthy excerpt from the latter in Eugen Weber’s Varieties of Fascism is quite good concerning the foundations of the popular community (what the National Socialists called the Volksgemeinschaft) in Rexist thought, and how they are undermined, divided, and opposed to each other by the liberal democratic state.
I salute this great man Léon Degrelle.
Francophones are fortunate to have Degrelle’s book: HITLER POUR 1000 ANS.
The most depressing part of this is ““If I had a son”.