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The Letter

He fought
Strong and hard
He did
Especially since
He got that letter
He fought
As if
There was no tomorrow
Worth living for
It changed him
It saddened him
He used to laugh
Like a Kookaburra
Even among
All the whistles
Of impending death
Over there
On the Dardanelles
He’d be the one
To cheer the boys up
With a quick Joke
And a smoke
As he passed
In the trenches
But that soon changed
After he got 
The letter
He didn’t speak of it
And I
Knew not to ask
It changed him
He fought with more
Vigour, bravery
After he got it
Always the first
To go over the top
Or to run the Nek
How he survived
God only knows
He once said
While he pattered
His breast
If I’m to die
It will tell you
And I knew
He meant 
The letter

That sad day came
Not there
But on the fields of Flanders
I lay next to him
In the mud and misery
Shacking
Shacking him
“mate
Come on mate
We’ve come so far
Don’t leave me now
What am I to tell Nellie
I cried
Above the screams
Of shells and yells
On the fields of Flanders
It was only after
He was buried
That I took out
The letter
And read

Tis with great regret
We wish to inform you
Nellie has passed away
She fell from her horse
Mustering a mob
Down by the course

Was then
That I understood
The change
That came over him
Way back then
On the Dardanelles
I turn the letter
Over in my hands
To see
That he had written

If I
Am to die
A forlorn
And forgotten 
Death
Upon a foreign shore
Please make sure
You return me
For 
I wish
For you
To lay me
Upon
My dear Nellie’s
Breast

I remembered
After I had 
Shakenly read
That I 
Wanted to cry
But I 
Had nothing left
To share or shed
Upon the fields of Flanders
I refold 
The letter
And place it 
Gently
At the base
Of Nellie’s
Headstone
As close I could
To her Breast

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