Remembrance 2017

I Remember Summer

I remember summer when the breeze blew soft and free

And I had plans to marry you; and you to marry me.

We dreamt in endless days of youth, but when the church bell rang,

There was no tale of love to tell, instead, of war, it sang.

I remember summer, how we parted on the morn.

A day of breathless sunshine, radiant fields of endless corn.

You wept into your handkerchief, and I into my heart;

A whistle shrill; a guardsman's call; announced the time to part.

I remember summer, tin pot hat and heavy gun

In training where we'd smash through bales of hay we labelled Hun.

The muster of our regiment, all brothers born of chance

Embarking on a boat to hell, the onward march to France.

I remember summer, days of cricket, days to dream,

Days of butterflies and ladybirds and picnics by the stream.

We'll someday reach our summer, when these bastard guns will cease;

I'll see you at the altar, come that distant summer peace.