I was not at all sure about contributing a poem to the blog... but here it is. I wrote it after visiting First World War Cemeteries in France and feeling a bit dubious about the way the dead mens' epitaphs were phrased.
THE GRAVE
You said I gave my life. Not quite.
I was never one to pick a fight
But I didn't turn my back.
I joined because I thought it right
And got caught in a mad attack.
The epitaph is mistaken:
My life was taken.
'We don't want to lose you.' Is that so?
'But we think you ought to go'.
King And Country - foe or friend?
He who killed me - friend or foe?
It didn't matter in the end.
I died with the mate
Who shared my fate.
You said 'Rest In Peace'. That's right.
May God preserve you from the sight
Of my head, broken like an egg,
My eyes and nose alight,
Arms gone, guts gone, one leg.
Imagine me whole, and alone
Beneath this stone.