A Rondeaux
Old Men On the Somme -1996
In truth they could kill nothing now,These tired old men who once knew howTo fight against the Kaiser for the King.Their comrades once knew how to singOf England’s lovely shores, its vow
To love them if they did not bowAnd kill and not ask howA Kaiser could not be a King –In truth.
A long road winds from there to nowBut time won’t conquer truth somehow –Dim-shining eyes which singOf buried lads who’ll never clingTo girls and stand to give their vow –In truth.