大象传媒

WW2 People鈥檚 War

Pre-War days, long and lazy
Summer skies were high and hazy
Three kids in the bath together
Mother at the end of tether

Saturdays on Margate sands
Italian ice-cream, big brass bands
Evenings under sunset cliffs
Lodger smoking his Will's Whiffs

Wartime, and the nazi boast
Threat to cities and south east coast
A million moved to safer towns
(Though City of Benares drowns)

Siblings, five of us - all scattered
Safety was the thing that mattered
Some kids luckier than others
They escaped back to their mothers

Hard landlady dealt the blows
Something deep within me froze
The thaw that came in future years
Would compensate the hate and jeers

But first the present, harsh and crude
The scavenging for bits of food
The coarsened life - childhood's thief
The ever overwhelming grief

Abuse at times withheld, in check
Children playing on the Rec.
Sweat a'cooling on the skin
Come ten p.m., we drifted in

Past women, standing with their kids
Talk of coupons, saucepan lids
Rations helped out with home grown goods
Scarcity, but healthy foods

The weather hot, as children play
In swimsuits they could wear all day
Woolton Pie, finished at a sitting
Make do and mend, and homemade knitting

A move to Penge, but still unspoken
Beatings of a childhood broken
Though London raids confused my wits
Abuse had been much worse than Blitz

Another move, to Brum's old streets
Blows again - once more, defeats
"I picked yo' up out of the gutter;
Be grateful for your bread and butter!

Fourteenth birthday, childhood gone
Pick the bits up and move on
If life's adventures leave a scar
Then make it part of what you are

For pain, for spite, for all distress
The best revenge is happiness
Let your childhood take the strain
And turn your losses into gain

In later years, become a kid
Compensate for what They did
Make friends - have fun - don't delay
Raise two fingers to yesterday.

(This poem was submitted to the People's War site by a volunteer from Wyre Forest Volunteer Bureau on behalf of Mary Rose Benton and has been added to this site with her permission. Mrs Benton fully understand the site's terms and conditions.)

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