The Bed

The poet laureate, Simon Armitage, has written a poem to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the burial of the Unknown Warrior. It is entitled ‘The Bed’. You can listen to Simon Armitage reading his poem in Westminster Abbey here: https://tinyurl.com/y4y395mc

‘The Bed’ by Simon Armitage

Sharp winds scissor and scythe those plains.

And because you are broken and sleeping rough

in a dirt grave, we exchange the crude wooden cross

for the hilt and blade of a proven sword;

to hack through the knotted dark of the next world,

yes, but to lean on as well at a stile or gate

looking out over fens or wealds or fells or wolds.

That sword, drawn from a king’s sheath,

fits a commoner’s hand, and is yours to keep.

And because frost plucks at the threads

of your nerves, and your bones stew in the rain,

bedclothes of zinc and oak are trimmed

and tailored to fit. Sandbags are drafted in,

for bolstering limbs and pillowing dreams,

and we throw in a fistful of battlefield soil:

an inch of the earth, your share of the spoils.

The heavy sheet of stone is Belgian marble

buffed to a high black gloss, the blanket

a flag that served as an altar cloth. Darkness

files past, through until morning, its head bowed.

Molten bullets embroider incised words.

Among drowsing poets and dozing saints

the tall white candles are vigilant sentries

presenting arms with stiff yellow flames;

so nobody treads on the counterpane,

but tiptoeing royal brides in satin slippers

will dress and crown you with luminous flowers.

All this for a soul

without name or rank or age or home, because you

are the son we lost, and your rest is ours.

If you would like to know more about the Unknown Warrior you can watch this short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFav8-49XNo or visit the Westminster Abbey website here: https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/unknown-warrior.

Mr Herbert
Curriculum Leader for History

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