Brian White
Convoy
Hot summer's day in the roaring forties,
my guinea pigs cavorting
round the aged neighbour's plot,
gorging themselves on victory's crop,
hunted by two jolly sailor boys
home from the soaring waves and the
searchlight glare in the U-boat seas,
torpedo free for a week or two, sweeping
the peas and beans for the scuttling pair;
locating at last one exploded wreck,
belly-up in the bean patch,
gorged with its spoils, boiler room
burned out in the chase.
Its sister makes it back to base unscathed,
confined to Blighty for the duration.
So off they go, back to the bombs
and the fire and the ice and the fear
of the Murmansk run.
The seasons pass,
the ebb and flow;
one back in port, in his true love's arms
and one asleep
in the deep green sea
I peer through the glass
at the cold dark rain
and dream of summer days.
my guinea pigs cavorting
round the aged neighbour's plot,
gorging themselves on victory's crop,
hunted by two jolly sailor boys
home from the soaring waves and the
searchlight glare in the U-boat seas,
torpedo free for a week or two, sweeping
the peas and beans for the scuttling pair;
locating at last one exploded wreck,
belly-up in the bean patch,
gorged with its spoils, boiler room
burned out in the chase.
Its sister makes it back to base unscathed,
confined to Blighty for the duration.
So off they go, back to the bombs
and the fire and the ice and the fear
of the Murmansk run.
The seasons pass,
the ebb and flow;
one back in port, in his true love's arms
and one asleep
in the deep green sea
I peer through the glass
at the cold dark rain
and dream of summer days.
Page(s) 39
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