Without Honours (1986)

The interviewer
Waves in for close-up
As an old woman
Mimics foreign words
Her father overheard
In France,
A few miles behind
Allied lines
Seventy odd years ago:
Breaking his stride
Outside the high walled courtyard
As a boy, not seventeen
He later learned,
Pleading in English
Is hauled out
To a pock marked post
Facing a Khaki line,
Moments later
He is silent,
A single volley’s echo
Hammering the sky.

She turns
To face the camera,
Her voice blurs
In re-creation:
“I want me ma,”
She cries.

 

 

 

 

Kevin Patrick McCann
Illustration Nick Victor

 

From Still Pondering   https://www.amazon.co.uk/Still-Pondering-Kevin-Patrick-McCann/dp/1788768671/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Patrick+McCann+Still+Pondering&qid=1573366856&sr=8-1


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