Honouring the past

A lot in the news this weekend about the commemoration of VE Day. It makes a very welcome change from all the election goings-on to which we've been subjected of late but especially for my generation - the children of those who fought - the commemoration is an important time of reflection in its own right.

It's only been in recent years that I've realised how little my father spoke about his wartime service in the Royal Navy and how little interest I must have expressed during my youth anyway - like most young people, I was too busy pursuing my own life to take too much notice of his! Now, of course, I so regret that ...

Jigsaw

Of ten thousand pieces, only a handful  

of straight edges and no picture on the box - 

the elusive fragments of your days 

before they interlocked with mine. 

Now I sift through faded photos, 

visit naval docks, trawl through your letters, 

probe the depths for any random pieces that align -

and wonder why it's taken three decades 

for me to miss the stories that I never knew - 

and to pay the homage that's so long overdue.

Roland Ewart Garrett, RN 1941 -1945

(Copyright Gill Garrett 2014)