Veterans · Military Families · All who have suffered trauma

A world of words that heals

FLOW is a safe, open community where poems, stories, letters and lyrics help people process trauma, share their truth, and feel less alone — in honour of our late patron, Dame Vera Lynn.

Scottish Charitable Organisation · SC050666 · Don't worry about spelling — just write

20%

of people exposed to mass violence develop PTSD

8M+

adults diagnosed with PTSD in a given year

more likely — women are disproportionately affected by PTSD

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Commando Lochaber

Commando Lochaber Now here’s a subject that takes me back To times when I were a mere child Enduring life in W W 2 So this photo left me beguiled I remember the enemy Bombers As they flew nightly overhead And we were led to a shelter Instead of staying in our bed...

H M S Victory

H M S Victory Here we have the oldest ship in the British Navy The longest Vessel in the world to survive 246 years of Service to the Royal Nay Which was launched in 1765 H M S Victory was Flagship for Lord Nelson In the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805 Armed with 104...

To Comrades at Christmas

It’s Christmas again; it’s wet and cold. A season of giving of history old. When most of us stay so warm and so dry, and memories fleeting of those who have died. Remembrance Day is far from us now. For most, it’s forgotten, vanished somehow. But veterans stand and...

Where have all the rabbits gone

Intro :- (The Company Admin staff that walked at lunchtime noted a lack of the usual Rabbits and wondered where they had gone. ) This was the answer submitted for the company news letter but for some reason not published. :- Where have all the rabbits gone Where have...

Lily

Lily For us a bad day, feeling so sad We lost our Pal called ‘’ LILY PAD ” Her Visits to the vets to no avail And in the end were proved to fail A terrible time it could make you cry Is She up there watching from the sky? The Mill lane road is not what it ought The...

BETHLEHEM

BETHLEHEM At an inconvenient time Mary travelled to Bethlehem And, on arrival, found no room – Only a stable in which to Stay. But the animals, used to Seeing birth, warmed the cold air with Their rhythmic breath, gave her hay to Lie on, their manger in which to Place...

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PAYING THE PRICE

PAYING THE PRICE A simple poppy of red and black, Reminds us of those never coming back, A stone memorial instead of a grave, Records the names of lives they gave. In uniform and civilian suit, Men silently stand to take the salute, A minutes silence for their eternal...

My Second Poem – Poppies

POPPIES In the stamens of red poppies See the eyes of dead men marching, See the glitz and glam of Empire, All the swagger, stomp and strutting, All the bugles, drums and bagpipes, Swirling kilts and horses clipping, Nostrils twitching smelling battle, Hearing thunder...

My First Poem – TOM

TOM “It’s only a scratch,” Said Tom, yet I’m still Here, still able to wheel myself round and See others that I’m told are worse than me And remember, with crystal clarity, Rorking carrions above the clearing Smoke and feel their wings flap-splatting in the Blood.”Get...

THE EMPTY CHAIR

THE EMPTY CHAIR There it stays, the empty chair, Where once our Rory sat there, It stays there empty day by day, It’s been like that since Rory went away. Rory enlisted to do his bit, The army took him, found him fit, Whisked away to a bloody war, That’s the last of...

HOMELESS AND HELPLESS

HOMELESS and HELPLESS The streets are cold, the pavements bare, That’s what it’s like when home’s nowhere, Life turns on a sixpence, I’ve heard them say, World turned upside down in just one day. I have my story, you have yours, It never rains but it always pours,...

IN MEMORIAM – 11th NOVEMBER

IN MEMORIAM - 11th NOVEMBER There are war memorials all over this land, Silent and cold wherever they stand, As silent as those who paid with their life, Left their loved ones, family or wife, As cold as they ground in which they lay, Probably in some soil so far...

Dear John

We were a family. Thirty young airmen thrown together in wooden hut No: 44 on an RAF School of Technical Training back in the1950s. Days of parades, kit inspections and hours of demanding study the evenings spent revising for the end of course examinations that would...

First Solo

There are many of life’s first experiences that are etched indelibly on our memory. First girl friend, first day at work, first bike ride, first ski run, first fish landed. All of these have a special place that is held in affection –or terror- or wonder. My most...

Grandpa Tom’s Limp

Even I was shocked how bad it was. I trudged through the early-summer Ayrshire rain with the school-report. My fourteen year-old spirits lifted on seeing Grandpa Tom's red Jaguar three-point-four in front of the house. My mother read in silence. After Grandpa read it,...

A lucky Man

I walked. No! I swayed across the living room remembering where the furniture was, where my wife Eve had arranged it. Lovingly arranged in the early years of our marriage. A time so long ago before that eventful day of that terrorist bomb in Malaya when a piece of...

Donnie’s fireworks

1995 Donnie Malloy was fat. He hadn’t always been fat. In fact, unknown to the majority, Donnie had been quite a hero once, a thin military hero. He’d fought his battles from Northern Ireland to the Gulf and back. Now, in his middle age, he faced a new battle, a...

Lock up your Daughters

The cold steel doors slammed closed again. I distinctly remember thinking that night that it didn’t seem like a moment since I had locked up the night before. This was always the case when living by routines and, more so perhaps, a sign of age. I double-checked every...

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"Through my own experiences in talking with the boys and girls about their thoughts on war and how they felt about going into action… through poetry they express themselves with absolute clarity, deep feeling and simplicity. I only have to read 'In Flanders Field' or Kipling's 'Tommy' to fully appreciate and be thankful for the beauty of FLOW. We must never forget them."

Dame Vera Lynn DBE — Our late patron, 1917–2020

Dame Vera Lynn, patron of FLOW for All