A Yard Away

 

 

     Young,

Loud and carnivorous –

Devouring life itself,

     They’d sway and they’d swagger,

Saluting each – the new brave.

 

     A day for spending the Queens Shilling

Took all away,

The day exchanged

For years of duty.

 

    Now here in the past

They gaze in old age

At a life

As tears of loneliness

Remain gripped by pride,

The rifle a memory

Not  a yard from death.

 

 

Fearless yet thoughtful

Fourteen to eighteen,

Thirty-nine to forty-five,

Their silence is loud

While deep in their hearts;

Old songs are sung

By those that were lost,

And they’ll never die,

They’ll never die lest we forget.

 

 

Michael J Waite 7^th May 2012.