An Eskimo in an igloo
Wrote a poem or two
But he couldn't get
The internet
So nobody ever knew

If you were here beside me still
With weather fine and time to ****
We could go strolling on the shore
Believing in eternity once more
And, perhaps, one day we will

So stubborn is this mournful chill
And hard to climb this unforgiving hill
My soul would be at peace, not war
If you were here...

We cannot chose to live or die at will
Or all our hopes and dreams fulfill
We let imagined gods keep score
And cannot change what went before
But what a tonic, what a thrill
If you were here...

Aren't we dreams complex that bloomed
in the garden of *Rorschach?
ink blots with hidden meanings
where ghosts of the past roam to pluck flowers

In the cold grey light of the sixth of June, in the year of forty-four,
The Empire Larch sailed out from Poole to join with thousands more.
The largest fleet the world had seen, we sailed in close array,
And we set our course for Normandy at the dawning of the day.

There was not one man in all our crew but knew what lay in store,
For we had waited for that day through five long years of war.
We knew that many would not return, yet all our hearts were true,
For we were bound for Normandy, where we had a job to do.

Now the Empire Larch was a deep-sea tug with a crew of thirty-three,
And I was just the galley-boy on my first trip to sea.
I little thought when I left home of the dreadful sights I'd see,
But I came to manhood on the day that I first saw Normandy.

At the Beach of Gold off Arromanches, 'neath the rockets' deadly glare,
We towed our blockships into place and we built a harbour there.
'Mid shot and shell we built it well, as history does agree,
While brave men died in the swirling tide on the shores of Normandy.

Like the Rodney and the Nelson, there were ships of great renown,
But rescue tugs all did their share as many a ship went down.
We ran our pontoons to the shore within the Mulberry's lee,
And we made safe berth for the tanks and guns that would set all Europe free.

For every hero's name that's known, a thousand died as well.
On stakes and wire their bodies hung, rocked in the ocean swell;
And many a mother wept that day for the sons they loved so well,
Men who cracked a joke and cadged a smoke as they stormed the gates of hell.

As the years pass by, I can still recall the men I saw that day
Who died upon that blood-soaked sand where now sweet children play;
And those of you who were unborn, who've lived in liberty,
Remember those who made it so on the shores of Normandy.
____________

No passport, no sunscreen
No travel plug or euros
No flipflops no shorts, just pockets of ammo
No loungers for Germans to throw there towels on
Just constant explosions and lead from their guns
One minute standing, next second gone..

This is what father spoke of the Somme
We came in our thousands and no package trip
We fell face first the moment we hit
Get off the beach the voices screamed!
Running head on into bullets and bombs
Bodies laid strewn dead on the wire.

Now I return, will be my last time
You just see sand and a holiday town
I see the ghosts of the friends I once knew
Their faces are clear the screams are as well
Remember them please, I beg don't forget
For they gave their all to stand here today.