Witness
by Marvin Hubbard
Etty Hillellesum Witness
Witness to life Witness to Joy Witness to God
Witness to the unspeakable Auschwitz
Your miracle too heavy your life too challenging
Your very life a song from the midst of death
Your life one continuing miracle
One continuous Dialogue with God
Where from you’re tears of gratitude
how could you see past the abyss of ultimate evil
and know the unknowable upholding you
Etty I know you live in us because you chose to be a witness
You lived God’s love God’s forgiveness
Where from
Your strength to love one
One who couldn’t save you?
Where from your strength to love
To defend protect
That fountain of love and goodness
To find in God Love Joy and Gratitude
I pray that we may carry
May carry
Your love onward
Witness to life Witness to Joy Witness to God
Witness to the unspeakable Auschwitz
Your miracle too heavy your life too challenging
Your very life a song from the midst of death
Your life one continuing miracle
One continuous Dialogue with God
Where from you’re tears of gratitude
how could you see past the abyss of ultimate evil
and know the unknowable upholding you
Etty I know you live in us because you chose to be a witness
You lived God’s love God’s forgiveness
Where from
Your strength to love one
One who couldn’t save you?
Where from your strength to love
To defend protect
That fountain of love and goodness
To find in God Love Joy and Gratitude
I pray that we may carry
May carry
Your love onward
Archibald Baxter’s Poetry
A collection of some of his works edited by Caitlin Duff: Download here
Poems
If I must dieRefaat Alareer (1979 - 2023)
Lest We Forget
Frances Palmer
for Auckland Museum's 2026 'Lest We Forget' poetry competition
Remembering War
Audrey van Ryn 12 April 2026
for Auckland Museum's 2026 'Lest We Forget' poetry competition
The Soldier and The Poet
28 July 2025
The C.O’s
6 November 2018
Kevin Clements with thanks to Leunig
22 August 2015
The Reading of the Names
11 August 2015
In The Flanders Snow
11 August 2015
The Military Museum
John Moller
a military officer in a NZ Army unit in Vietnam
The Greatest Lie
John Moller
a military officer in a NZ Army unit in Vietnam
Last Post by Carol Ann Duffy (2009)
It Will Make a Fine Hospital
by Andrew Dimitri
(from Winter in Northern Iraq, The Hippocrates Press 2019)
Ring Them Bells
by Marvin Hubbard
Witness
by Marvin Hubbard
È la solita storia: Remembering Bach Mai, Yemen, Ukraine and All the Faceless Dead
by Bob Zisk, New Mexico, 2023