Just to remind people

Just to remind people that
at 11am today, 
there is an opportunity to remember 
the dead of two world wars

and other conflicts
by a simple two-minute silence
at your desk
or wherever you are.


And those who want to
may also think about 
the soon-to-be dead
in other conflicts, 

and about the half-dead 
who saw their children’s 
bodies heaped, 
or watched their parents shot, 

who don’t know where to look 
for the sister who ran,
or the friend who pretended
to be dead beneath the dead.

Those half-dead whose breath
never fills the hollow.
Whose two-minute silence 
is followed by another silence

today. 
And tomorrow.

Just to remind people.