Wooden Boxes Copyright © 2009 John Snell

it is 14^th July 2009.

Wooden boxes
Every one
Precious father
Only son

Hostile land
No tourist route
Bombs to drop
People to shoot

Wooden boxes
Every one
Barely had
Their life begun

Wooden boxes
Everyone
Above a bomb
In site of gun

Losing life
For another
Bravery
Above all other

Lessons learnt
None at all
As day by day
Our soldiers fall

Read reports
Doing well
May you
To their families tell

Wooden boxes
Duties done
There won’t be
Another one

From the ranks
Can replace
But no one takes
Their father’s place

Just left to look at picture
Hanging on the wall
From that they get no cuddles
No! None at all

“Yes children, Daddy goes down in history”
Is that what we tell them all?
Fat lot of good will that do
As they wait here with their ball

And what about when Daddy
Comes home a different man
Yes I know it’s only a leg missing
But he’s an also ran!

Yes I know Daddy was a brave man
But why was he the one
Who didn’t make it home for us
To join in all the fun