ABSENCE

creditfotoRobCullen

Absence

Present absent lost.

He was here there
but parts were absent
lost on an Italian beach
amid 90 per cent casualties.

Locked in a camp
with one water faucet
and 7000 thirsty starving men
waiting for red cross parcels.

He never wore
his campaign medals
or marched
up and down

Saluting cenotaphs
as old soldiers do
at the parades
each year in town.

We lived
with photographs
sealed in a black box
locked under his bed

Photographs taken
of pre-war days
Serpentine deck chairs
of Regents park
Hyde Park
Speakers Corner
on Sundays
and those friends

His memories
all gone
now then
and now he’s gone too