Poem about a light on every grave Christmas Eve Airborne Cemetery

The political Party D66 Renkum chooses every year the best citizen initiative in Renkum, The Netherlands. It is an award for the recognition of the effort volunteers take, to do something for somebody else.

The initiative who won the participation for The Best Citizen Initiative for 2018 went to the group who initiated to have a candle burning on every war grave on Cristmas Eve at the Airborne Cemetery in Oosterbeek and it's surroundings.

From all the initiatives in 2018 the political party chooses 10 organisations and the people of the municipality of Renkum could vote on the initiative who they thought was most sympathetic. Because sympathetic they were all. The group did not see the nomination coming as they did not expect to win at all.

"Unbelievable," one of them said, "we couldn't believe the amount of donations done, the amount of hands that came to help to lit the candles and the fastness it all went, and we did not see this coming either!"

Just a few who helped burning the candles

(and cleaning up afterwards) were present and after the price-giving they took the little statue to the cemetery and placed the flowers they also got, on the monument.

"We all, did it for them, so the flowers are theirs." they said.

The village-poet Sander Essers was asked to write a poem for this initiative and he did, in Dutch but so touching we asked him for a translation:

© Sander Essers