I ... entered the poem of life, whose purpose is ... simply to witness the beauties of the world, to discover the many forms that love can take. (Barabara Blackman in 'Glass After Glass')

These poems are works in progress and may be updated without notice. Nevertheless copyright applies to all writings here and all photos (which are either my own or used with permission). Thank you for your comments. I read and appreciate them all, and reply here to specific points that seem to need it — or as I have the leisure. Otherwise I reciprocate by reading and commenting on your blog posts as much as possible.

3 July 2016

Soldier Fathers

Dad didn't go
overseas to war
but to camp,
training against invasion.

(He was already wounded.
His leg, injured at 10,
needed daily dressing
all his life.)

 Andrew's dad went
to the trenches –
stretcher-bearer
(wouldn't kill).

 20 years later, his son 
found one surviving page 
torn from a war diary:
'Hell. Hell. Hell. Hell.'
Written for Flash 55 PLUS! at 'imaginary gardens with real toads'. We are asked for a 55-word piece (excluding title) plus we may use the theme of war. My father and father-in-law were involved, in these different ways, in World War II.
By -
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12 comments:

  1. brudberg3 July 2016 at 20:34

    Maybe carrying stretchers showed even more of hell... It tears at heart remembering.

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  2. hedgewitch3 July 2016 at 21:41

    One word can say so much.

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  3. Susan3 July 2016 at 22:29

    A marvelous glimpse into the lives of two who knew.

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  4. Jim3 July 2016 at 23:10

    So true, Rosemary, every line. We have a nephew who has recently retired from the U.S. Air Force. He was a medic, he went to Bosnia, Quatar, and Afgahnastan. Now he works in a Texas hospital. He did get a bachelor degree in nursing after his discharge.
    Mrs. Jim's brother had his plane shot down overvItaly in WWII, he died.
    Hell, hell, hell.
    ..

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  5. Marian4 July 2016 at 00:50

    Oh good lord, hell for sure.

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  6. Angie4 July 2016 at 01:30

    oh, wow. oh, no. that diary!

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  7. Magaly Guerrero4 July 2016 at 01:58

    Few service members see more of the horrors of war than those who have to patch the wounded and collect the dead. "Hell. Hell. Hell. Hell." Indeed.

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  8. Kerry O'Connor4 July 2016 at 02:27

    The last line says it all. Thank you for sharing these memories.

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  9. Sherry Blue Sky4 July 2016 at 02:40

    Hell indeed. A perfect one-word description.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Gillena Cox4 July 2016 at 11:45

    Poignant write Rosemary thanks for sharing

    mine

    much love...

    ReplyDelete
  11. kaykuala4 July 2016 at 19:22

    The dead were not there to witness. The stretcher bearers were the ones who saw the horrors of damage and sufferings in a war.It was certainly hell to see.

    Hank

    ReplyDelete
  12. Outlawyer5 July 2016 at 00:54

    Wonderful. Thank you. k.

    ReplyDelete

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