Tank Man

Here is a tank

Rumbling across a vast expanse

A square

Here is a man

White shirt

Black trousers

A shopping bag in each hand

He steps before the tank

Raises his hand

Palm out

Stop!

And the tank stops

Manoeuvres

The man alters his position

Manoeuvres

The man climbs onto the tank

Talks to those in the tank

He...

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The Keeper

Unlike many in his position

He was never the last to be picked

Because he was one of the best

Not for him the fast quick feet

Or the well timed volley

Or the crunching tackle

Safe hands

That night

In the cold

With his team mates

Where bravery

was an afterthought

It was his greatest save

Not a shot from the edge of the area

Not ...

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Honourable

If you wrote his speeches

If you contributed to the farce

If you drove him here and there

If you kissed his arse

If you supplied his porcine pleasure

If you shone his shoes

If you offered him your soul

If all your reds were blues

If you served his table

If you served his drink

If you closed your mind

If you tried hard not to think

If you sorte...

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The Bayonet In The Shed

He put it there in forty nine,

in a woodworm riddled drawer,

wrapped it in a greasy rag.

A remnant from the war.

On top of it he laid his medals,

nothing more was said

until the day my father

took the bayonet from the shed.

We had pestered many times

and he had said ‘perhaps’

when we asked him if he’d killed

any Krauts or any Ja...

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