They left the farm and country store
Left the weeping wife beside a cradle
Left a girlfriend waving to a train
Strong of limb with heads held high
They marched and sang and laughed their way
Across the seas, mates together
Somewhere amid the night watches
Dreams fought with fears. They contemplated
What a man was made for
And so they went
Innocence shattered, bodies broken, lives given.
Faced the unspeakable, then and forever.
No glad hurrahs on victory day.
Only a quiet presence in the homeland
Men forever changed, silently grieving.
The wheat grew high with no hands to reap it
The babe grew strong with no arms to hold it.
The girl stood waiting on an empty platform.
Lest we forget.
©Josephine Collett 11/11/23
