Boots up on the bountiful haycart,
Dreaming of France -
He's lost among the cherry trees
All ghostly white.
Dear Mrs Gray, I cannot tell you
What sorrow it gives me to write this letter
And I know what it must mean to you...
The auctioned farm,
The spotless house,
The daughters in empty dancehalls.
Convivial farmers volunteered,
Weighed fifty years of widowhood
Against the sun
And jovial camaraderie.
Distinguished on the War Memorial
Long lichen-covered names -
Unmentioned men, disowned buffoons
In permanent disgrace.
