Thought for the Week: A better way?
'A better way?' by Owen Cole
They walked the Pennine Way and Hadrian’s Wall, That summer of ‘09. They saw the cawing choughs Guarding the coastal path. Surrounded by sheer beauty They talked of weddings and of babies.
A year went by, the terriers left summoned to Helmand.
Trod the desert path and thought of home.
Six more days to stay.
The greenness of a valley almost Welsh
Seduced his mind and blew his legs away
With thoughts of weddings and of babies.
Ripped in two he lay amid the dust.
On English country roads kind folk welcomed him.
And in the village church staunch comrades sang his praise.
Outside, their fusillade stirred into anger the black dressed mourners
high up in the trees.
Then all went quiet. Alone, she laid a wreath of poppies
On his yet untrodden down grave.
A tear watered it.
Might there not be a better way?
She thought of weddings and of babies.
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