(In italics after each date, the 1918 diary extracts of bandsman, James McPartlin, No11 Coy D. Batt, Machine Gun Corps (Suicide Club).) My grandfather.
January 10th 1918
Operation at Stoke War Hospital
Lungs to blast music filled with poison gas,
You laid down your instrument,
Took the shrapnel blast.
Steal a breath…
January 29th 1918
Operation war hospital
Lie there, alive
While your bandsmen march
The tempo of death.
The sepia ensemble on watch
On your bedside table, tap
The beat of guilt
In your heart.
Steal a breath…
February 6th 1918
23 years of age
Celebrate, old man, the passing
Of your youth through bloody wounds
Blow out your candles,
If you can –
Play the second cannon
As a softer tune
Steal a breath…
May 3rd 1918
Stone Red Cross Auxiliary Hospital
And as you heal, forget the distant battle
Drums and horns, tend to your heart
For there lives hope –
Sound the Reveille, rehearse
The last post.
Steal a breath…
July 29th 1918
Left Stone Red Cross Hospital
Pack your kit bag once more
To bear false hopes.
The suicide club fights to the death –
Operations are not finished with you yet.
Steal a breath…
August 24th 1918
Operation
Scream in dolce as they whisper,
Instruments still shine.
Another theatre waits.
The twist of a knife lays open
A weeping wound for life.
Steal a breath…
October 18th 1918
Discharge from Hospital
Carry instructions for a lifetime of pain,
A daily dress down parade.
A small sacrifice to return home,
Sow seeds in your garden, watch them grow.
Steal a breath…
October 31st 1918
Left Stoke Staffs
Turn your back –
For your war is ended.
Lament in solo, when the sonatas cease.
The bandleaders abandon the trenches
As the Corp take their final applause
Steal a breath…
November 1st 1918
Landed Home
Accept the fanfare, the
Garland of blood dried flowers.
Your life will be short, others’ shorter yet,
And still we forget.
And still we forget…
Published in Telling Tales of Heroes (2Impress 2012)
www.moiramcpartlin.com 