Falklands Vet
( I find it so difficult to comprehend it is 25 years since that conflict and this conversation took place)
It was gone three in the morning
And very soon the dawn's light
Would come and wipe away
The remains of that long night.
I had sat silently there,
Just a willing pair of ears,
Listening to that voice
Sometimes cut by tears.
He talked of the carnage
At that landing beach;
Lost lives and equipment;
Victory nearly out of reach.
And he talked about the yomp
Across that rocky barren land.
He had to talk it through
Wanted us to understand
That after all the victory talk
No one really got to hear
How, never mind victory
Defeat was so very very near;
How they took ammo and supplies
To replace those lost on the shore
From the packs of prisoners
Now out of that strange war.
(There was very little chance
Their ammo wouldn't fit
For it was really quite probable
We had originally sold them it)
There was more to tell we knew,
But not just right there and then.
There would be other times
When we would talk again.
Quietly in full darkness,
Away from women's ears,
Before he got on with living
The rest of his due years.
Not at past three in the morning
When very soon the dawning light
Would quickly come and wipe away
The remains of that cathartic night.
Falklands Vet
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