here i proudly stand

As a boy, Leonard Clark was encouraged and mentored in his writing by the poet Will Harvey, who had fought in the First World War.  F. W. Harvey had joined the 5th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment and was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for Gallantry. After being captured in 1916 he spent the remainder of the War as a POW, spending much of his time writing. In 1925 when the young Leonard Clark published his first small collection of poetry, 'Between the Hills', the impact of the War on families in the Forest and those who fought (such as Harvey) was still very keenly felt. Clark's collection was "Dedicated to the memory of William Thomson George who died for England, October 1918". The book's preface is written by Harvey. It is significant then, and poignant today on Remembrance Sunday, that the first poem in the little book by Leonard Clark is reminder of the then recent War: 

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THE STATUE SPEAKS
(CINDERFORD WAR MEMORIAL).
 
                        
            I am the solider. Here I lonely stand
            And keep my watch, because you planned
It so. I hear the country-people’s feet
Go echoing in the Market Street.
“Am I e’er cold?’ No chillier now than when
I knelt in mud with other men
Or shivered as I felt them drop – 
And so I stand upon this granite top.
Weep not for us, but pray that you
May live more wholesome lives. We knew
How sweet life was – and yet we died.
I here – they slumber side by side.
I am your solider. Here I proudly stand
Firm as an oak in this our Forest land. 
 
November, 1923.
 

Thanks to David Price for sharing 'Between the Hills'.
​Picture Credit: Michelle Young, Great War Forum