Yeoman Service

Cherry

By Ewan

Mon, 21 Apr 2008
  • 2079 reads
7 comments
 

I never loved my rifle,
or the pistol they gave
me later: we kept those
in a box while flying.
I looked terrible in
uniform, security
guard in a shopping
centre on the ground or
scruffy mechanic in
the air. Women love a
military man they
say. It’s a canard I’ve
disproved so many times.
But there’s safety in
numbness and unthinking
obedience and so I
saluted until my arm
was as tired as my soul.

Certificate U
Poem
Autobiography

Comments

Submitted by anipani on
liked this,, and thought the last 'so I saluted until my arm was as tired as my soul.' really excellent.

anipani

Submitted by animan on
Yes, I like this too and the dry tone in particular. The final 5 lines are v. clever, I feel. Particularly 'safety in numbness' - a nice play. Lucky Cyril!

 

Submitted by BeamsAndVoids on
Yeah I liked this too. The end in particular.

 

Submitted by onemorething on
I found it very moving actually, I can't pick out a line, it's short and neat, but very poignant.

 

Submitted by Ewan on
Sadly, Cyril was not so lucky. He was a friend of mine while we served in the forces, he died before he reached 40 and his death was the main reason I left the military on a reduced pension. You never know what's around the corner, and I was determined to live an examined life and that meant changing it. Cyril left two young children and a widow; like a lot of the racket-y Berlin boys he married late in life. Some of my poems are for him, because I doubt if I would have written any - if not for re-examining my priorities when he'd gone.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by animan on
I'm sorry for what obviously was a great loss.

 

Submitted by sunshine on
loved it - ditto all the comments above. thanks for your interesting and poignant explanation of the inspiration and impetus behind this.