He was a Scots lad
My father said
He died in desert sands
My father warned him
But he drank it anyway
Woke up in the morning
Found him lying there
Stiff as a board
My father said
That was just the way
Fighting there in Africa
1942
Desert Rats against
Afrika Korps
Rommel an impressive foe
British on the run
Looking bleak
What are we fighting for?
News from home is dodgy
Bombs on Glasgow fall
Nothing good from home
To bring him cheer
Scots lad takes to ouzo
Got to find escape
Got too fond
His way to deal with fear
Dad told me the story
A memory he could share
Many more he never told at all
Too terrible the trauma
Why relive the pain?
Never should have been a war at all
We’ve lived too long
With glory tales
With noble sacrifice
With heroes buried out
In foreign fields
We have a duty
All of us
To persevere in peace
And find the way
That dividend to yield
Brian Fahy
16 June 2021
Erris Poetry 