Harry Patch
PLAYING OLD HARRY
(A counter charge to Andrew Motion's.
poem on Harry Patch)
A road-mender might well be 'Patch'
But cruel joke on a Squaddie,
Sent forward yet, still leaking life
From scarcely patched-up body.
Despatched on politician's whim
To corner foreign patch;
Earning mention in despatches
Or meeting swift despatch.
It's Tommy this and Tommy that
But stark truth came from Harry.
By jingo, war's just Tommy rot!
When buglers call - just tarry.
Anthony Emmerson
Sun 26th Jul 2009 01:31
Hi Barrie,
I'm glad that someone thought to write on the passing of a remarkable man. I hadn't read Andrew Motion's poem until yours prompted me to do so. I have to say that I liked it - but it didn't have the power for me of the Kipling you so admirably and aptly quote. I remember watching the Albert Hall Festival of Remembrance with my Grandfather when I was a child, and him telling me how a few of the old men there had fought in the Boer War, and how there would soon be none of them left. Harry Patch's passing is another of those moments - for all of us. An eloquent reminder.
Regards,
A.E.