In the November 2009 issue of Downhome, we feature readers' Remembrance Day-inspired poetry. We received so many that we could not fit them all in the magazine. Here are two of those touching poems submitted by our readers.

March With Us
By Robert James Tucker
Toronto, Ontario

Mother do not weep for me,
For I am away to keep my country free.
Father, you taught me honour and pride
And from my duty I cannot hide
I have heard my country's battle call
And I will hold myself true and tall
As my comrades and I march off to war
So that others will have to go never more.
Shed not your tears for me
But sing sweet songs of beauty
So when to you I do return
Let the fires of victory burn
Celebrate for those who fall
And march with us, proud and tall.

A Sergeant's Tears
By Bill Westcott
Clarke's Beach, Newfoundland

Watching our young Canadian soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan being carried back home on the shoulders of comrades prompted this poem.

On TV
A young soldier
Tears rolling down
His rugged face
Heart broken supporting
His comrade
Inside a steel
Coffin

In slow procession
On their shoulders
Another young victim
Of a senseless war

A father, a husband
Viciously cut down
In prime of life
Remains draped under
The Canadian flag

Heart broken
Family and friends
Look on another Taliban victory
In a foreign land

In the zone
His platoon fights on
Angry, frightened, determined
In deft defiance
As tears stream down
Their Sergeant's face

A final salute
Silent prayer
Bugler's last call
For a peacekeeper
Casualty of war