War – Damned War
by Judith Light 2024 (c)
Anzac Day cometh !
Hooray Hooray !
War! Damned war.
What is it?
Who is it for?
Who wins?
(We are told that’s when Australia became a Nation?)
When to the movies last week
The ‘Escapers’ Michael Caine’s last movie.
Glenda Jackson last role, and dying performance.
Reflecting on commemoration / celebration of the ‘Allied’ landings in France.
As ‘The Great Wars’ ended, and Great Men died.
Two men of my life were part of it.
My uncle Bill won the Croix De Guerre for being shot down in that very battle.
He was a solicitor and officer in the Royal Australian air force (RAF) and a poet who “Went”
And his brother, (My father).
Too young and not fit enough.
Could not “GO”.
The following two poems tell a little of their stories and something of mine.
Uncle Bill was the “Bigger Man who went”
My father, the “Lesser Man’ who stayed.
None of us escaped,
hero or civilian.
——-
Judith Light 