Remembrance Poem

Paddy Reilly's Dead

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We were only just married, my Paddy and me

The great war broke out, called for heroes and brave deeds

For my man it was duty, loved his country and his crown

Marched proudly with his rifle, meant to bury them in the ground

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He wrote to me often from somewhere in France

Said how much he missed me when the Hun gave him the chance

But I read between the lines and knew that it was hell

While in the papers only stories of glory to retell

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So I was not much surprised when his next letter read

He was shell-shocked and broken, confined to his bed

From those pages he screamed ‘bout the bombs, blood and pain

Swore to me an oath that he would n’er go back again

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Just six week later still twisted and tired

Threw him back down that hole, though he was barely just alive

He cried out in anguish, clearly out of his mind

Labelled a deserter when he wandered from his line

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I received just one letter to tell me he'd died

Said "Dear Widow, we regret, but you can’t take no pride

‘twas no German bullet, which he failed to defy

Our British Army, a court martial, had sentenced him to die

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From the court room they took him dazed and confused

"I’m no deserter, I ain’t a coward, make sure my wife learns the truth"

As they prayed for his soul, a moment’s solace he found

Turned to raise their rifles he stood blindfolded and bound

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The firing squad boys couldn’t hold back their tears

Took aim under orders, they all missed, this much is clear

It fell to the Captain, he knew what to be done

Stepped forward, drew his pistol, blew Paddy’s brains to kingdom come

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They cancelled my pension, so I could share in the blame

For the next fifty years had to carry this shame

Friends cast me aside, gossiped out loud

"Don't pity that poor bitch, she was married to a coward

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Now they publish a diary, Butcher Haig: His Greatness

Seems my Paddy was not a coward, just an example to the rest

And the army’s so sorry, a pardon overdue

But they stole away his life, what bloody good will all this do

© R.W.Fullilove 1998