Legionnaire

Just a quick notification that A new resident was on his way Giving us enough time to get A room ready for him to stay Not our usual type of client A Veteran French Legionnaire It was beyond my pay grade To know how he’d ended there. He was going through a crisis In his domestic civilian life Needed a break away from His family and his wife. The Veteran Brotherhood Had taken care of it Referred him on to us For one of our bedsits. He’d woken up in hospital Physically sound and whole The only surviving member Of an ambushed recce patrol With no recollection of how He’d ended up there, Or the three days lost that He’d spent under care. Discharged back to Blighty Survivor guilt to the fore PTSD setting in he just Couldn’t take anymore. All this had happened A good few years ago But Traumatic Stress Disorder Can take many years to show. He stayed just a few months And, not telling us why He went back to his wife Where he'd chosen to die. Just days before he passed I was surprised to hear his voice When he rang me to tell me Why he made that choice. Said with Chronic lung disease He was very near his end And he wanted to thank me For being both helper and friend. Shocked and distraught not Knowing what to say or do I let Forces black humour Help carry us through. The Brotherhood is International A mixed and disparate lot So many times it’s the sad case Each other is all we’ve got. Booted and suited by his box We all took time to think Drank a toast to his memory, left Untouched the absent friend’s drink.