My father’s anniversary coming soon
Tuesday 15th of March
Day and date exact
Opening of the Cheltenham Festival
A perfect day for him to die
He loved the horses well
He stabled them and groomed them in his day
Out in India for officers
Sunny times in far off climes
North West Frontier too
He kept a monkey as a pet
Funny what you do
Excellent at football
Captain of his team
Scouted then for Arsenal
That would have been a dream
But then the year was ‘39
All dreams were put to bed
Six years war ahead of him
The world confused with dread
The theatres of war he saw
Iraq and Lebanon
Desert Rat in Libya
Fighting Rommel’s gun
D Day landings Normandy
Fighting all round Caen
Battle of the Bulge in Belgium
Then on to Nijmegen
Finally at the end of war
Out on a patrol
He arrests a German soldier
And sends him up the line
Turns out that man was Himmler
Monster of that name
Brought to book by a Tyldesley lad
A quiet claim to fame
In later years a quiet pint
A bet upon a horse
Simple little pleasures
Helped him stay the course
Final days in hospital
A father and a friend
Died in my mother’s arms he did
Faithful to the end
Brian Fahy
8 March 2022
Erris Poetry 