One Poem by Gifford Savage

 

Roll Call

(i)

Present Sir –
the little voices chorused as they responded to their names.
It took seven minutes at the start of each class.
Present Sir,
one after another in turn.
Neat uniforms, school ties, 
skinned knees on child-size chairs behind ink-marked desks,
where others had sat before us in earnest attention.
A lifetime of possibilities stretching ahead,
though such thoughts were far from our young minds.
Present Sir –
I answered to my own name.
After school, toy soldiers were waiting.
Model warplanes skilfully constructed.
The bloody reality never intruding on playtime.

(ii)

It took seven hours for Cardinal Matteo Zuppi to call the roll.
Name after name of dead children.
469 pages.    12,227 names.
Read aloud in the park of Monte Sole di Marzabotto
in the ruined Church of Casaglia – burned by Nazi’s in 1944.
A place of suffering to remember all victims.
Name    after name     after name     after name.

       I’m so scared please come, 
       were little Hind Rami Iyad Rajab’s last words 
       on the telephone from the car as she fled with her family.
       Lana Ashraf Yasser Al-Ghusein’s parents called her ‘Lulu’ –
       Her nickname captured the gentle shine she brought to the family.
       Such a joyful personality, and a heart full of kindness,
       her mother Heba said through bitter tears.

Naama Abu Rashed, 14 hours old –
shot in her mother’s womb, October 7 2023,
Yaqueen Yousef Sam Al-Tilawi, one year old,
Mariam Ahmed Walid Owaida, age five,
Louay Mohammed Gathi Yaghi, age two,
Lana Ashraf Yasser Al-Ghusein, age ten,
Hind Rami Iyad Rajab, age five.
On and on Cardinal Zuppi called the roll.
Name    after name    after name    after name.

Not present sir. 

Gifford Savage is from Bangor, Northern Ireland. His poetry has been published in various journals, including Honest Ulsterman, Hedgehog Poetry Press, The Storms, Flight of the Dragonfly, The Bangor Literary Journal, Agape Review, The New Verse News and previously in Lothlorien Poetry Journal. He was included in the CAP anthology ‘Across the Threshold,’ has performed his poetry on local television station ‘Northern Visions TV’ and was winner of the Aspects Festival Poetry Slam 2022.