Thursday 7 March 2013
Missing the train
the explosions
had shaken the street
at the edge
of the village
and they had waited
until there was silence
again
and the drone of the plane
was definitely gone
before they crept out
from their shelter
under the dining room table
granddad
and grandma
and all of the family
eight persons in all
granddad
ran out
dressed in his nightshirt
to check on our neighbours
the elderly couple
were both in their eighties
and he found them
asleep
with their arms
around each other
the wreckage
of their house
was next to the field
by the railway
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You have left me with so many unanswered questions Gwilym, was that your intention?
ReplyDeleteIt's just a factual report. It could happen to anybody. I guess that's the point. So the answer is, yes.
ReplyDeleteAs it was it was my family under the table and it was the next door house where the victims were and it was WWII, but it could just as easily be today and another family and another elderly couple in another place. We learn nothing. We make the same mistakes over and over again. We have done for eons. And we will continue into the dim distant future . . . the root cause is greed.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who once worked in Lebanon, in a day centre. He had a great anecdote about sitting under the table in his work-room with a Muslim colleague listening to American shells whistling overhead. (Fortunately they all did whistle overhead). He used to say the experience had a critical effect on his world-view.
ReplyDeleteDominic I love your last sentence or rather your friend's last sentence which fortunately wasn't his last. Thanks.
ReplyDelete