Father and Son
The boy sat opposite the man.
He, gross with beer pot, bald spot,
Scarred arms,
Plugged music in, shut boy out,
Read a book on war,
Deaf to boy’s entreaties
(Who with his shining eyes and eager questions betrayed
his love).
At last they talked. Of guns,
Campaigns in ‘little’ countries.
‘I bate those Russians, Dad!’
Grinned boy, innocent of contact,
Then, of some gun:
‘That’s a nice bit of kit,’ - the son.
‘Yeah, nice bit of kit,’ - the father.
(What stunted visions of the world
had he taught this unquestioning boy,
that war’s a game,
that guns are toys?)
knowledge.
Across his chest boldly
‘Soldier of Fortune’, bulged
Above crossed knives.
(Had he taken ‘enemy’ lives?)
‘I’m going Private, ‘cos of the cash…’
The son nodded wisely, unabashed
by the listeners in the carriage.
Then as the father crumpled crisp packets
Fiddled with homely trolley,
Fussed with his son’s anorak
And talked of feeding pigeons,
I saw their mutual love.
(They, who could discuss the merits of a knife
And not equate it with the ending of a life.)
Both, mutilated by the spirit of the gun,
They were still father and son.
Hostages to fortune.
Page(s) 11
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