Impressions

by Violet Rook

The drawer opened and I found a notebook, green and dusty. A relic of 1917.  Clear honest handwriting, expressing love, hope and a view of the future. Small sketches of friends with signatures of good luck. Tears were being repulsed, hard swallowing occurred to prevent a sudden rush of emotion.

The words brought such forceful but sad feelings. The little book could have been written a few weeks before, the words were so fresh with impressions and poems.  Words often connect to the time and place of events with a collective image. The view was of water, sand, sea, surf and sky with the colours changing every second from reds to darkest blue.

Monet painted this scene giving a new word to the world of artists.The chalk cliffs of this Normandy coastline standing to attention across from the White Cliffs at Dover. This was the idyllic vision of one part of France scared by other events in the 20th century ,a scene painted by the TV programme ‘Coast’ just after the news of the death of last soldier of the First World War. He looked so frail; did those feet really run across muddy fields to the sound of thunderous guns facing those dark scenes of blood, guts and death where now in the holiday season tourists might be heading.

Harfluer was headlined with its similar views six hundred years before, a famous play and films telling the tale. Its scenes with many sequels, the actors change but not the story.  What will be the prologue in 111 years time? An old man perhaps shouting his tale to the wind and rain, full of sound and fury. Can feelings be transmitted in time via words. The notebook was an insight into a world which should have been desolate, yet the words and the handwriting were of hope.