ON LEAVE... (One of my poems concerning World War One...)

 On Leave…

(A poem about World War One…)

Stone walls.

Permanence, confidence.

Ceiling falls.

Low oak beams twist imperceptibly

Above rag-rug of dark red offcuts,

Whilst fire-logs spit their anger

Beneath flaming abuse.

This sole source of warmth and light

In November’s room

Glares its defiance and very resistance… 

Life stalls.

Pretence, reticence.

Fear appals.

Sad, weary eyes falter deceptively

Over vintage of deep red wine, but

Whilst fire-logs shift asunder

Beneath flames obtuse,

This soul, aglow with warmth and light

In furlough’s doom

Shares its resilience and very existence…

Pete Ray

Ivor Bertie Gurney’s poem ‘Ypres-Minsterworth’ included the following verse, which rather affected me.

‘To think how in some German prison

A boy lies with whom

I might have taken joy full-hearted

Hearing the great boom

Of autumn, watching the fire, talking

Of books in the half-gloom.’

The feeling of pervading darkness outside a cottage, the glow of a log fire within, the delicacy of an expensive red wine and a defiance in conversation, all spurred me on to pen the above in July 2015…

PATERNAL GRANDFATHER...

I have now revised my original poem…