they merely skype as arranged over beer and crisps
soldiers are apt to reflect growing old
ordinary chaps at opposite ends of an ordinary world
and a war that was fought
long ago somewhere else
they google the fog and the frothand recall the arrows
and the lines in the dirt
running over the maps -
it was a time when spam was a meal in a tin
Footnote: Spam, as a foodstuff, remains popular today, according to a Wikipedia entry I just checked out. Personally, I have the impression that people devoured more tins of the meaty pink rectangles in the 1950's and '60's; in the days before freezers and fridges, and that sales plummeted following a Monty Python sketch. Of course I admit that I may be wrong. It may be that I am moving in non-spam circles. It is certainly a popular dish in Hawaii where it is reckoned that the annual consumption of spam on one of the islands is an amazing 16 tins per stomach. I expect they serve it with pineapple.
I just love this imagery of these two old boys mulling over the old days Gwilym. I know a few old soldiers who fall into this category.
ReplyDeleteIt's good that old soldiers on opposite sides can after a suitable passage of time now get together via the internet as possible future friends and compare notes and stories and discuss items of interest and at the end of it all discover the real truth for themselves. The internet has the potential to bring an end to all war.
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