大象传媒

THE FORGOTTEN ARMY: 1947 - A SOLDIER'S HOMECOMING

The accumulation of it was five years for him.
A lengthy span.
It varied for all in terms of time,
The memory though was for life and more.

From the initial nervous excitement,
To the finale of disillusion and a space unfilled.
Anticipation on the departure platform,
Disappointment returning to the empty house.

Two years on and
No victory celebrations lived on, waiting.
No public adulation or dancing in the streets
Nobody, even, at home.
Just a locked up empty house.

The young paid the penalty
For that which they had been sought.
It was a battering blow - being held back.
The kick to the man on the ground,
Understandable, of course,
Unforgivable also.

And no-one really knew
Or could feel the indifferent exclusion,
The squashed expectation
Like him,
And others like him
Who had fought unconditionally.

They had fought for the new.
Only to return to a tarnished,
Novelty worn-off world of old,
And trample long gone party streamers
Underfoot.

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