APoem For ANZAC Day
25 April 2015
One hundred years on and
Old enemies are now friends
So often the way of the world
After conflicts ends.
And that War
To End All Wars
Just laid the foundations
For so many more.
From Suvla Bay to Basra,
To our modern days,
The world remains ruled by
Ever more aggressive ways.
Do the shades of the fallen
From a Valhalla somewhere
Look at the turning world
And sigh with despair.
Was their sacrifice wasted:
Were any lessons learned;
Did the people benefit
From any victory earned.
Do they draw the curtains
Shut out the view
Very little changes
Very little is new.
One hundred years further on
A very different where and when
May greet those restless shades
With curtains drawn back again:
A new world maybe emerged
With conflicts all long done,
That War To End All wars
Having finally been won.
I hasd the honour of reading this to the congregation at the ANZAC Day Rembrance Service in Hull 2015. The Australian High Commissioner and a Senior AAF were in attendance. It was written fr the occasion
Categories:
basra, memorial day, military, remembrance
Form: Rhyme
Love affairs, wars, depression, gastronomy, obsession,
weight loss, job loss, don't give a toss, Bill Goss,
arguments, instalments, increments, incidents,
discension, derision, indecision, my pension.
Bad looking, dodgy cooking, let's make a booking,
sloppy dresser, second - guesser, more is lesser,
flash car, Chandrika, you're a star, take me to the bar,
holidays, getaways, hideaways, lazy days, Vin de Pays.
They found him in a bunker, then he was shot,
an ignominious ending, more likely than not;
remember when he waved a rifle from the balcony,
the fake euphoria just committed to history.
There was no 'mother,' only burnt - out trucks on
the road to Basra - now nothing would ever matter.
Categories:
basra, hate, murder, political, violence,
Form: Prose
Whilst Jon-Allan was out Iraq to warfare ban,
In 2007 he sustained an injury, rocket attack,
So that doctors had to amputate his left arm,
But after rehab he continued the sport’s crack.
He’d been a weapons technician in the RAF,
At Basra airbase, and before that Afghanistan,
But he was now on a programme so to quaff,
Any idea that he wasn’t good at cycling’s pun.
He took the limelight at the London games,
When he won three silvers for para-cycling:
One for the C5 Individual Pursuit, sole aims,
One for the mixed team sprint very cunning,
And another silver for the C4-5 1km Time Trial!
Then 2016, and he won gold for the mixed team,
And also a silver medal for the C5 kilo Time Trial
In Montichiari, and so made the Rio GB Team.
Categories:
basra, sports, strength,
Form: Quatrain
Mission Accomplished
Basra, 2005
He doesn’t cry about it
anymore. No tears
in years. On occasion, though,
those who know him
see his good arm fly,
fist up, just above his eye.
So far the sun each time
has backed away,
allowing him to walk,
his good arm ready,
through the village
one more time
where he and others
picked off Shia
on a birdless
summer day.
Donal Mahoney
Categories:
basra, confusion
Form: Free verse
Basra, 2004
He doesn’t cry about it
anymore. No tears
in years. On occasion, though,
those who know him
see his good arm fly,
fist up, just above his eye.
So far the sun each time
has backed away,
allowing him to walk,
his good arm ready,
through the village
one more time
where he and others
picked off Shia
on a birdless
summer day.
Donal Mahoney
Categories:
basra, war
Form: Free verse