I remember the first time saw this scene, it inspired me to write sort of poem.
The gardener laid down his tools and here they remain. Undisturbed, in the hope that the gardener would return and one day resume tending his garden, as if he’d never been away and nothing important had happened.
The gardener laid down his tools and here they will stay. He was seized by patriotic fervour to fight for his king and for his country, against the German butchers…… and bakers and candlestick makers.
The German gardener laid down his tools and here they remain. He was fighting for his Kaiser with a similar Zeal, but with no idea why these fractious royal cousins needed a war.
The gardener picked up his gun and the whistle was blown. If they sent enough men against the German guns, sooner or later the Germans would run out of bullets. Well that was the plan.
The gardener laid down his life and here he remains shot by a German gardener who feared for his life. In less troubled times, they would have been friends, but in nineteen sixteen, it was not meant to be.
The gardener’s son laid down his tools and here they remain. In nineteen thirty nine the German butchers and bakers and candlestick makers joined with the gardeners and were marching again.
So many of those from Heligan did not return. How much more killing will there be before the human race learns war achieves nothing but pain and suffering.
An excellent illustration to accompany the sad story.