A Brief Moment of Remembrance : In Memory of Anna Politkovskaya (1958-7th Oct. 2006)
When Brian Haw, that stubborn weather-beaten figure,
scourge of the parliamentary warmongers
and all of us who by our mere indifference
are in some small way complicit in torture,
dressed in his usual hard hat
studded with dozens of badges of peace,
stepped forward with a single purple petal
and placed it carefully on the ground
at the Innocent Victims Memorial
near the West Door of Westminster Abbey
beside the photos of the beautiful face
of Anna Politkovskaya,
gunned down for heeding her conscience
and ever daring to expose the truth,
it meant far more than all the expensive wreaths
and all the sincere speeches in her remembrance
spoken here so far from her native land,
most of them drowned in the din of London traffic
on that hot October day in Ramadan,
a brief moment for some to consider
the transience of life, selfless love,
and the inhuman and ever
enduring depravity of man,
and when dear Vanessa placed a finger to her lips
and blew you a gentle kiss,
all eyes in that small crowd were filled with tears.
About this poem
This poem, a protest against war, was written about a memorial service for the Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, who was assassinated for exposing the truth about the Chechen war. The service took place beside Westminster Abbey at 13.30 hrs, on 13 October 2006, six days after her death. Vanessa is the actress Vanessa Redgrave. The reporter Jon Snow was also there.
Submitted by R.Boase on November 27, 2022
Modified on March 05, 2023
- 57 sec read
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Quick analysis:
Scheme | ABBACBDEDFBGBHBBIJKALAMBBB |
---|---|
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,024 |
Words | 191 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 26 |
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"A Brief Moment of Remembrance : In Memory of Anna Politkovskaya (1958-7th Oct. 2006)" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 3 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/145459/a-brief-moment-of-remembrance-:-in-memory-of-anna-politkovskaya-(1958-7th-oct.-2006)>.
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