|

Mysterious Ways

Mark Thomas

Monday, May 21st, 2007

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 The old framed picture packed in a case
Without a care, a smile on his face
A son’s great pride in a father so brave
An “unknown soldier” in an Athens mass grave
Football, their reason to make the long trip
A first passport clutched in an iron grip
In red battledress, they boarded the ‘plane
This chance for goodbye may never come again

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 In the port of Piraeus, under aerial attack
His hospital ship burned, smoke thick and black
A wife and a child lose the one they adore
Generations touched by a cruel act of war
This place, far from home, where many lives ended
Rows of white stones, always lovingly tended
A family pay respects and shed a few tears
Lay flowers and a scarf and bridge missing years

Notes

ALBERT BRUMBY T/31878
Royal Army Service Corps. Died April 1941.

Inspired by an article which appeared in the Liverpool Echo on 17th May 2007. Liverpool supporter, Ronald Brumby, was travelling to Athens with his four sons to watch the Champions League Final and to make a first visit to his father’s grave. His father, Albert, was killed in Athens during World War II and is buried at the Phaleron War Cemetery.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/mysterious-ways/