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.
Cheerful husbands 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.
