The Spawn of War

The Spawn of War

A Poem by David Lewis Paget

He met his Dad for the first time when

His father came marching home,

After the war to end all wars

From London through to Rome.

He’d never seen him before he stooped

As if to pluck out a thorn,

And asked his Ma in his army suit,

‘Just when was the young one born?’

 

He hadn’t been home for five long years

And Jeremy then was four,

He constantly seemed to be adding up

The years that he’d been at war,

His Ma would say, ‘He’s a miracle,

Young Jeremy went full term,

I carried him for a year,’ she said,

‘It must have been wartime sperm!’

 

Then his father growled, and his mother howled

As he placed her on his knee,

And running his hand on sacred ground

Said, ‘all this belongs to me!’

His mother cried when he said she lied

In the years of his growing up,

And treated him, apart from the rest

When he called him a ‘scoundrel’s pup.’

 

His father clung to his Khaki suit

It was washed and pressed each week,

‘You never know when they’ll call me up

If this treaty doesn’t keep.’

He worked back down in the coal mines where

He’d emerged to answer the call,

Black from coal like a demon’s soul

But he’d gone, to fight for them all.

 

But Jeremy never saw him smile,

He never could do enough,

The others would go on trips the while

But Jeremy got a cuff,

‘What have I done,’ he’d often say

As his father sat and yawned,

‘Don’t come bothering me today,’

And mutter of ‘wartime spawn.’

 

The years went on and the son had gone

To live on his own, nearby,

But always came to visit his folks

Each month, till the one July

He came around to the house and found

That the dust his father choked,

Was sat so deep in his lungs that he

Had suffered a massive stroke.

 

‘Your father’s down in the hospital,

He might not ever come out,’

His mother cried, while his brother, Clyde,

‘He’s all washed up,’ he’d shout.

The others wouldn’t go visit him

They had much too much to do,

So Jeremy took his favourite book

To visit him in Ward 2.

 

His father sat in a wheelchair there

And he looked up in surprise,

‘Nobody’s come to see me, lad,’

He said, with tears in his eyes.

‘Why, of all people, would you come,’

As he helped him into his cot,

‘What do you think, you silly old man,

You’re the only Dad I’ve got!’

 

And he read to him from his favourite book

And he sat and held his hand,

And the years of hurt that disconcert

Lay buried in No Man’s Land,

For the feeling came back in his limbs

As the father did atone,

And Jeremy came, the spawn of war,

‘Come on, I’m taking you home!’

 

David Lewis Paget

© 2015 David Lewis Paget


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Featured Review

This tale of father son relationship touched my heart. The rejection was based on assumption but between humans there is no way we can define relationships. They get entangled to each other in some strange way which can only be felt but never explained completely in words. A very wonderful writing which can be developed into a story and may be even a novel.

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.




Reviews

“The only Dad I’ve got” from a better son that such a dad deserved. Amazing write, David.

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

This tale of father son relationship touched my heart. The rejection was based on assumption but between humans there is no way we can define relationships. They get entangled to each other in some strange way which can only be felt but never explained completely in words. A very wonderful writing which can be developed into a story and may be even a novel.

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

A great father/son tale . . .DLP!!!!!!

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

"‘Don’t come bothering me today,’
And mutter of ‘wartime spawn.’ - I literally cussed the man under my breath for that remark ...

Kids often show us the way DLP - some people have a huge capacity for love in tandem with the same for forgiveness. We should all try to emulate the little boy who grew and taught his father how to be a real man, something even War couldn't teach him.

Without preaching you manage to educate David. Magnificent skills. Bravo!
:))

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

brilliant David, it was such a happy ending its almost sad if that makes sense, i'd say this is one of my favourites, well done my friend :)

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

What a loyal and caring man Jeremy turned out to be after being on the outer and never accepted by the only man he knew as his Dad. In this case there had never been any Heart for Jeremy in that home. I can relate very much to this story being adopted and raised by a WW 1 veteran and a Mother who rubbed my face in the fact every day. No Heart in my childhood home either.I too ended up looking after her during her sickness..
A well written poem ending with that beautiful quality of compassion.
A great alternate painful look at other aspects that arise from war.

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

"Come on, I'm taking you home!"...very sensitive write. in most cases, home is where the heart is, as Heart is where the home is! Beautifully written.".

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

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alf
Hi David. Ah, there were so many similar 'events' like this back in those days, but I've never heard them put into a poem. Nicely, done too. Enjoyed the read, alf

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

Wow, what a beautifully written poem. :D It was very interesting and I enjoyed reading it!

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.

I read this on the other site. It is love that makes a man a father. He raised the boy, somehow he turned out right. Valentine

Posted 9 Years Ago


1 of 1 people found this review constructive.


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11 Reviews
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Added on April 8, 2015
Last Updated on April 8, 2015
Tags: thorn, sacred, Khaki, cuff

Author

David Lewis Paget
David Lewis Paget

Moonta, South Australia, Australia



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