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| Left: St James' Church, East Malling
Kent; |
Right: St Mary's Church, West Malling,
Kent |
Dedicated
to John Henry Arthur Marshall 1923 - 2003
(great
grandson of Francis Henry Alchin who migrated to Australia in 1855)
When first the paving of the
Road
Rang to the tread of the marching Roman,
And Caesar's legions seaward strode
To find a yet unmastered foeman,-
Full many a curse, of ancient flavour,
Rolled far along the muddy Way;
A curse upon the highway's paver,
Whose echoes linger to this day!
A thousand years - (when England
lay
Beneath the heel of the Norman raider):-
The cobbles of the age-worn Way
Echo the march of the mailed Crusader:
Whilst many an oath, of pious fervour,
Between their chaunt and roundelay,
Gives proof to any close observer,
That men are changed little to-day!
Again a thousand years - again
The ancient frontier Road enslaving,
Come horse and cannon, motor-train:-
All sweep along the narrow paving.
A wondrous change, you say? but listen!
Listen to the words they say!
What matter cannon, petrol, piston?
The men are just the same to-day!
Gordon Alchin was a soldier-poet during World
War One and he contributed several poems to a soldier’s publication
in London in 1917. I have not been able to positively identify Gordon
Alchin but he may be Oliver Henry Gordon Alchin of Wagga who died
of wounds received at Polygon Wood, Belgium> on 27th September 1917.
John Marshall's father Jack was seriously wounded in the same battle
and he would die from those wounds a few years after the war.
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