The Longest Night & Crossing the Rubicon

‘The Depot’

I visited the Guards Depot the other day,

only it’s the 'The Depot' no longer, all the Guards gone away.

A place once alive with martial noise,

for the creation of men from that of mere boys;

the British Army's best, and no idle boast,

now 'The Depot' is silent but for the wind and the ghosts.

'Cat Company', which sat beside the square,

had borne a board of memorable dates there,

remembering battles, fought on foot, horse and tank

by those who had skirmished, and of men stood in rank

It honoured their courage on many a foreign field

but the board is now empty and the paintwork has peeled.

No Guardsmen, no Troopers, no Corporals-of-Horse,

no men from the battalions returned for some course.

The ranges are silent, Sand Hill overgrown

'The Queen Mary' is mildewed, forlorn and alone.

I visited The Depot the other day

but the Guardsmen have gone, up Catterick way.