Six years in the army
Then six years of war
Enough for my father
He didn’t want any more
Not for him reunions
Or marching in the street
He wanted to forget it all
The nightmares in his sleep
He joined to escape from poverty
From the misery of the mine
And found himself in India
That was a happy time
And promises of football
Arsenal wanted him
Until a certain Mister Hitler
Put the kybosh on that plan
He rarely spoke about the war
The nightmares fade away
And he wasn’t too impressed
With the officers of the day
He concluded it was madness
To go to war at all
And he didn’t want reminding
Of the brutality of it all
Schoolboys fighting in a yard
Silly silly game
Grown men fighting on a football field
Silly just the same
Blast the ship from under you
Then pick you from the sea
And shake your hand in no man’s land
Our rank hypocrisy
An argument occurs
Work it out together
Help of others community
Holds us to our tether
And if we meet a Hitler
Determined to destroy
Let him stew in his own juice
He’ll collapse you’ll see my boy
Brian Fahy
14 November 2021
Erris Poetry 