As Britain marks Armistice Day, Chris Penfold Brown remembers the time she and other Romanies and Travellers went to the cenotaph to remember their relatives who fought for freedom.
Remembrance Sunday 2011 Cenotaph for Romanies.
The day was fine, with the sun shining bright,
I was full of butterflies and my head was light,
Will ever the Gypsies be on the march one day ?
Oh! Yes they will, and that day is today!
When we set off, my heart was full of pride,
I could only think of my people that had fought and died,
And wondering what they would have said?
Thinking of the poppy fields so green and so red.
It’s such a shame, that so few know, that the Gypsy’s fought,
There would have been a good many, in every port,
Fighting side by side and back to back,
Courage was a thing the Gypsies never lacked.
So I give thanks to my friend Janet Keet-Black,
Even after refusal she never looked back,
I’ll try again next year she said to me!
Then came the tickets, what a sight to see.
It should be well known, the sacrifice they made,
Some never came back, where they died they stayed,
So give hem a thought in the two minute silence,
And pray there will be no more violence.
A journalist came to us and said,
Why are you here, why do you march for the dead?
He made it plain that he hadn’t a clue,
That the Gypsy fought and died with all the others too.
Chris Penfold Brown
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