When I Returned Home

When he returned home It was four years past There were bands playing And the families were glad For the returned Diggers Were also sons, brothers and lovers And the years were long At times they were filled with tears It was 1919 and the Great War was over But not everyone was there In the Port Adelaide docklands My best friend had fallen And his mother made me promise That I would look after him But a German shell had done for him I saw her standing there alone And I couldn’t look her in the face. © Paul Warren Poetry From a soldier's recollection in Patsy Adam-Smith, The ANZACs"