Baby Garden

No baby cries for its mother’s loss
But lies there still and gone.
Though mother feels pain for its departure,
She knows its life would still have shone.

Burma Railway

The bang of hammers and ding of spades,
Aiding a slave man’s toil.
The Sun beats down on the condemned man’s back,
Melting his soul to the soil.

Jimmy Lead (11)

 

Sands Garden

Baby,
Fly with the angels,
Dance with the stars.
Dream on now, remember my words.
And live on in me.

We’ll always love you,
You’ll never fade
Stay close, don’t go.

War Memorial

Nobody knows what war means to you but how much do you think it is worth overall?

Is it worth the pain and sorrow?
Is it worth hundreds of lives? Is it worth the families waiting?
Is it worth the darkness?

There are candles in the dark
Allowing us to move on,
Names of soldiers carved on walls
In peaceful remembrance of why they fell.
The huge stone walls,
The eerie whispering silence
The stillness of the air
The icy reality

We were inside a book,
With every year a new chapter,
Every new page filled with names lost in time.

Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters,
Lost in endless years of slaughter.

Out of the cries and hurt and sorrow
Our lost, fallen heroes live on
And will be remembered
Forever, Today, Tomorrow.

Chloe Hatton (11)

 

Memorials

Looking at the stones of people who’ve died,
Makes me think, “Why couldn’t it have been me?”
To take their pain away
And let them live happily.

It makes me think, “Why is there war?”
People dying and feeling scared.
It is just a complete waste of life,
Supporting their country, because they’ve been dared.

The British flag means quite a lot.
We should be proud to see it fly.
The Navy ships steam off,
As the soldiers wave good-bye.

The artillery gunners shot and shot
And never ceased from gunning,
The people who shot them
Really had them running.
The memorial could mean so much
To people who’ve heard the blast,
That sound of the gun,
For people to remember the past.

Song of War

War is a terrible place,
Men dying with blood on their face.
It’s such a disgrace.

War is not much fun
When you’re holding a gun
To someone’s face.

It makes me feel so emotional the fact
That millions died,
Trying to fight to the end,
Having to bend
Their backs to earn a living.
It is not fair on them.
They were giving
Hours of work for nothing.

Ben Biddulph (10)

 

Celebration

Peace and quiet is celebrated here
The constant noise of war replaced.
To the soldiers I am near, I feel
What the peace must be like to them.
In the Artillery Garden.

The Sands Garden makes me feel glad
That I am not dead.
If it was me, I would be marked.
I find it very sad.

Edward Butters (10)

 

The National Memorial Aboretum

The banging of the guns
Echoes through my ears
Changing peace and tranquillity
To a roaring lifetime of tears.

A pathway laden with stones
The spirits and souls of loved ones,
Unborn, struggling dying at birth,
Marked and remembered with stones in the Earth.

Tears cascade from thoughtful eyes.
All joy in life is lost.
For the worth we believe in
Our brave ones paid the cost.

A railway to nowhere
The railway of death.
16,000 men have died
And here are the tracks they have left.

Katie O’Byrne (10)

 

HaikusSands
 Garden

Mothers weep for their loss,
The pebbles lie lifeless,
Yet each filled with love.

Burma Railway

Deceptive iron
Hides the death and suffering
Of many prisoners.

Peace come too late,
Ironies of uselessness,
Families in sorrow.

Memorial

People care enough,
To commemorate lives lost.,
Grateful I’m alive.

Jonah Haynes(11)

 

Lost Babies

On the pebbles I read the names,
Frederick, Lucy, Malky, Mark.
We stop and look more closely
At pebbles placed among the bark.

I sit here looking and staring,
At all the pebbles on the floor.
I get sad, as
In a year there will be more.

The only place that has this garden,
For babies lost with love and sorrow.
It makes me glad to be alive but
Sad for those we will not see tomorrow.

Phoebe Griffiths (10)

 

Confusion

The Sands Garden made me really upset.
The stones are children that have died.
Yet it makes me feel so happy,
Because I am alive.

I find it so upsetting.
It reminds me of a time.
I just don’t know how I would feel,
If that was family of mine.

Sophie Boocock (11)

 

Glad To Be Alive

I feel moved by all the pebbles.
I am very lucky to be alive.
There is no point in being upset.
I’m glad my friends survived.

Does It Have to Happen?

The war memorial is quite striking.
The fact that it stands out
Makes me think about
The unnecessary fighting.

I know they have been very brave
And lost their lives, our own to save.
But there’s a whole wall to be filled,
With names of those yet to be killed.

And just because we
Disagree,
This doesn’t have to happen.

Chloe Ellerton (11)

 

Walking Through The Arboretum
National War Memorial
I really like it here,
Because it makes me think
Of the soldiers in the war.

Sands Garden

The babies and their families
This is comforting but sad.
In this garden, quiet and peaceful.
But it makes me very glad.
I never died at birth.

 

The Burma Railway.

I hate to look at it.
The writing about slavery.
I’m really upset now.
Unbelievable, horrible.
Their slave railway finished
The day they declared a truce.

Emily Cummings (10)

 

Happy To Be Alive
Followed by Burma Railway.

This garden has made me feel rather sad,
But in a way it made me glad
I am happy that I am alive.
Yet it has moved me, but why?

I walked in there and I am in horror.
The men want to have an adventure.
They are actually going to suffer.
I’ve got to go out.
It has not moved me like the children’s garden.

Rachel Turner (10)

 

Message in The Stones.

Baby, sing with the angels.
Baby dance with the stars.
Stay in heaven with the misty gods,
And you will be cherished in all our hearts.

Visit us any time, any place,
We’ll always be there for you,
Just stay close always,
And we’ll love you.

Abigail Stokes (11)

 

Two Gardens

Jones, Guy, Cott, and Williams for artillery.
The Alder Tree is a place of tranquillity.
The baby, the eye and the teardrop
All dedicated to unborn love.

Alistair Watt (11)

 

The War Memorial

The War Memorial is Massive!
Because on the eleventh hour,
It is very constructive
Of the eleventh day
So many people died in the war
Of the eleventh month
The sun shines through a gap onto the statues

It didn’t make me feel as sad
As the other things
But it made me feel glad
That I’m still alive.

Bhuvana Sudarshan (10)

 

My Darling

My darling forever is how long we’ll love.
My darling forever is how long we’ll remember,
Mother will always have you in her heart.

Eliza Hill (11)

 

The Artillery Garden.

The Peace,
The Tranquillity,
The Quietness,
The Trickle of water,
The Splash of the Waterfall,
The rustle of the trees, touching.
The Peace,
The Tranquillity,
The Quietness,
The Path of Pebbles,
The Statue in the middle.

Daniel McVey (10)

 

Thoughts By A Pond

The pond makes me feel calm
But a little bit sad.
It makes me think of people
That have died fighting
For our country.

I know someone that has had a relative die
When they were a baby.
So the pebbles and stones make me feel very sad.
It reminds me I am lucky.

I am alive and well.
Lucky to go through life
Knowing that I am very fortunate.
Even though it didn’t happen to me
It still makes me feel quite sad.

Ella Jones (10)

 

Stones for Babies

It is really good that there are stones
That people can write on for dead babies.
Why can’t we all be friends?
It is wrong that there were wars.

I feel happy and glad to be alive but I think……….

Jamie Stringer (10)

 

Soldiers Covered in Dirt

Soldiers, all covered in dirt,
Wearing their golden rags,
Stomping through the trenches,
Constantly tapping on the weakened legs,
And suddenly a whizzing,
Of bullets flies by,
Awakening the soldiers to the sky.
More shells fly past.
As soldiers position themselves to kill.
“Show no mercy,” shouts the commander,
“Fire at will!”
Years go on.
Many people die,
Laying down there lives for queen and country,
Until the end is nigh.

Rhys Kennerell Walters (11)

 

Chimes in a Garden

The splash of the waterfall,
The rustle of the trees,
The tinkling of the wind chimes,
The swish of the breeze,
It’s a thoughtful place to be,
In the garden of tranquillity.

1500 names on the wall,
Of all the soldiers who died,
Moving and touching midst it all,
I know I am lucky to be alive.

Mara West (11)

 

Sad Stones

There are loads of stones
With babies names on
I feel so lucky to be alive now.
It‘s really sad
And
It must be really upsetting for the parents.

Megan Lee (10)

 

Feeling Glad

I feel glad and happy
I am alive and lucky
I’m just glad to be alive.

I find it hard to imagine
What it would be like back then.
I wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Matthew Lambert (10)

 

I Feel Upset Because….

People after working in the artillery
Had very sad lives.
Even though these children aren’t my family
I feel very glad to be alive.

It’s not fair that we can live
Working for these forces they had to die.
I am very upset that this sort of thing has happened.
I still feel upset that they died.

Bethany Slater (10)

 

Mixed Feelings

The lily pad gives you joy and happiness,
You are sad but feel some joy inside,
They are not your proper relatives,
You feel sorry for those that died
Although you feel sorry for them.
And you try to come out…………

I feel quite sad because my family had an incident, so I know I know how it feels. I have a step mum who is having a baby and don’t want that baby to die or I’ll be ever more sad. Looking at the baby makes me think of things that have happened in the past and just makes me sad.

Tiana Dunn (10)

 

Too Many Names

The list of the names;
Too many of them,
Playing their part whilst killing took place.

All of the stones mean people that died.
The parents would have been upset
I feel lucky because I’m alive.

James Alcock (10)