Payday Comes Once A Year! By Danny Kemp

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday in the UK. My contribution in tribute to the dead is cynical and repetitive, reflecting, I hope, war itself. The four ‘O’s’ in the last line are meant to represent…machine gun fire!

Blood-Swept-Lands-and-Seas-of-Red-poppies-installation-at-the-Tower-of-London_dezeen_784_0

Millions costing pennies that paid dearly for their death.
Lives costing nothing to be thrown to rest.
Scattered parts of bodies that would have been left to lay.
With no lasting memory of the cost they did pay.

Red flows their blood and paints the poppies so bright.
Generations lost forever with no remembrance light.
Those that cared left grieving, was their cost to pay.
Over unforgotten hearts that could have been left to lay.

We salute the dead and pay homage to their cost.
But where now lies the soul of war as everyday more are lost.
The dead have no memory but it’s them that pay.
While the heart of man pays respect on only one obligatory day.

© 2014, Danny Kemp. All rights reserved.

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About Daniel Kemp

At the age of seventy-six, Daniel Kemp has started his second year of studying the science of Psychology at the Open University. He is a member of The Society of Authors and also a bestselling writer. However, in early September 2025, he was diagnosed with cancer. He is now in palliative care at home, being looked after by his ex-wife. When he was writing his novels, he enjoyed writing stories that appealed to those who liked challenging themselves to solve mysteries that were set out before their eyes, but they couldn't. His introduction to the world of espionage and mystery happened at an early age when his father was employed by the War Office in Whitehall, London, at the end of WWII. However, it wasn’t until after his father died that he showed any interest in anything other than himself! On leaving academia he took on many roles in his working life: a London police officer, mini-cab business owner, pub tenant and licensed London taxi driver, but never did he plan to become a writer. Nevertheless, after a road traffic incident left him suffering from PTSD and effectively—out of paid work for four years, he wrote and self-published his first novel —The Desolate Garden. Within three months of publication, that book was under a paid option to become a $30 million film. The option lasted for six years until distribution became an insurmountable problem for the production company. All ten of his novels are now published by Next Chapter Publishing Company which has added an edition titled The Heirs And Descendants Collection, which holds all four books of that series, alongside an edition titled The Lies And Consequences Collection which contains all four volumes of that series. He is the recipient of rave reviews from a prestigious Manhattan publication and described as—the new Graham Green—by a highly placed executive of Waterstones Books, for whom he did a countrywide tour of book signing events. He has also appeared on 'live' television in the UK publicising his first novel. Less
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2 Responses to Payday Comes Once A Year! By Danny Kemp

  1. Kev's avatar Kev says:

    From the air, it looked like a river of blood. It made me think.

  2. Daniel Kemp's avatar Danny Kemp says:

    Shame it all had to be removed.

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