Matchbox Holder

This matchbox holder dates from the Edwardian period and was probably made by a soldier in WW1. "Rouen" is inscribed on its side, so we assume that the soldier served in the Upper Normandy region or possibly stayed in one of the many military hospitals that were set up in the Rouen area. I've always wanted to know the real story behind this piece of trench art (if that is what it is) but part of its appeal is in imagining and conjecturing about its real history.

A bi-plane is stuck,
Its engine stalled permanently
In a sky of brass
Above Haute Normandie.

Below lies a church,
Some fields, a cottage
And a new sunrise
Heralding hope.

Whoever etched these marks,
This landscape of life
Lived on the edge,
Surely their spirit endures.

© DBE