They Came Back.

 

My Grandad went to join the war,
took the shilling, stood in line.
He joined with many men so young,
though he was thirty nine.
When he came back to England’s shores,
no longer in his prime,
he was a worn and weary man,
not old, but old before his time.

But he came back.

 

My Dad was only sixteen years,
when he went off to fight,
despite his mother’s urgent fears,
did what he thought was right.
So now my Grandma feared for two,
her husband and her son,
but she knew what they had to do,
until the war was won.

But they came back.

 

Across the land the call went out,
to fight a fight so just,
and in their thousands signed their names,
to win that fight they must.
They found themselves in conflict
where they knew they’d likely die,
in a war not of their choosing,
but with the price of failure high.

Only some came back.

 

While Grandad fought somewhere in France,
my Dad, he was at sea.
They played their parts in different ways,
to fight the enemy.
They fought to save our freedom,
the freedom of our nation.
To stop the enemies evil aims;
oppression and subjugation.

But they came back.

 

We can’t forget those shortened lives,
but ever grateful some were spared.
And although most were in their prime;
for war they were so ill-prepared.
So it was in countless numbers,
they paid the greatest price.
They lost their youth in endless slumbers,
in a contest against loaded dice.

Many did not come back.

 

A hundred years have passed and
church bells chime,
as we recall the deaths and sorrows.
But also those who survived that dreadful time,
to live another day and give us our tomorrows.
They live on in us, their futures entrusted to our care,
and through the generations they endure.
And in their names we must all strive,
to be the best we can
and keep their memory alive.

For in our hearts they all came back.

 

-oOo-

​

This poem is dedicated to those who did not come back,
and with grateful thanks for those who did.
They are now reunited with old comrades,
many of them lost in muddy places.

May they rest in peace -

somewhere.