Ruth Harper

Day of Remembrance, Edinburgh

We visit the churchyard in autumn’s pale light;
the bells of St. Cuthbert’s stone steeple ring clear.
The rowan leaves red, and the sycamores white —
the annual day of remembrance is here.

The bells of St. Cuthbert’s stone steeple ring clear.
They toll for the dead, both the known and unknown.
The annual day of remembrance is here
for those over whom the wild poppies have grown.

Bells toll for the dead, both the known and unknown.
A nation still pauses, remembers, and grieves
for those over whom the wild poppies have grown —
and those buried here beneath sycamore trees.

A nation still pauses, remembers, and grieves
for those in the trenches and all in the fight. 
So many lie here beneath sycamore trees —
a graveyard of spirits in autumn’s pale light.

Ruth Harper is a retired professor of counseling who took up poetry during the pandemic lockdown and now cannot imagine life without it.  She has published two chapbooks, Dreaming the Sturgeon Moon (South Dakota State Poetry Society chapbook contest winner, 2025) and Uncertain Seasons (Finishing Line Press, 2023).