My grandma’s brothers
John and Owen Trumble
Strong young men
The sort that didn’t grumble
Went off to war in France and Middle East
Didn’t come home
Never knew a feast
My father’s uncles
Handsome chaps they were
Commemorated now
On Tyldesley stone
John died out in Flanders
May 1916
Owen near Jerusalem
Close to God’s own home
Owen died in No Man’s Land
Attempting to help a pal
A sniper got him then
Christmas time and all
Today’s the day remembering
Young men at their post
Deprived of all that’s beautiful
Giving up the ghost
We’ve had our education
A hundred years of war
You’d think we’d learn
Think we’d know the score
That fighting wars is futile
Young folk pay the price
Negotiation always
Patience conquers vice
It’s good to know you think of me
I hear my uncles say
We did the best that we could do
In the struggles of our day
Let our stories talk to you
Let them say it clear
Nothing deserves such violence
It’s our lives we must hold dear
Brian Fahy
11 November 2021