Axis & Allies - damowords

Lost at Sea
Rose & Freda arrive at the butchers,
Sov’reigns & haʹpennys stretching round the back,
But as they went shuffling to the counters
Freda froze at this vision of ‘er Jack;
Pellucid glow,
Flanʹd by blue guardian,
ʺRose, love, weʹve gotta go... forget bloody bacon!ʺ
Boy soldiers playʹd war in’ sandbags,
Cog Lane watchʹd the telegram,
An Azrael along the flags...
Maggie dropt ʹer jar of jam,
Flusht hot, slipt on her pumps & rags,
Rushʹd out to find ʹer mam...
Collarʹd with granny flapinʹ down the street,
For sevʹral seconds cold hearts lost their beat…
ʺOur Jack is missing, presumed dead!ʺ
The whole street ʹeard ʹer shout,
Base fears that fed on common dread,
Calamity & doubt
Rudely releas’d into the world while scrikin’ ‘er eyes out.
Burnley
May
1943
Chindits
Thro delphic idyll of watery shades
A Japanese lackey treads sweat‐streaming,
A mountain Gibbonʹs gibber flies & fades,
God’s artistry mortal sense o’erwhelming:
Sly Ghurka stands
Up from the ground, unseen,
Sticking his daggerʹd hands thro windpipe, throat & spleen…
The day’s bland meal had just been pannʹd,
Bamboo shoots & curried snake ,
Wingate joins his brave battle‐band
Lazing on a well‐earnʹd break,
With blade & bible in each hand,
ʺThe fourth course we shall take!ʺ
In theior wake the jungleʹs neutrality,
Here only monkeys possess mastery.
They hack’d their way thro jungle dense,
Thick webs & drooping snakes,
Tho tired & tense the fine‐tuned sense
Always the right road takes,
Til one‐by‐one they burst upon their goal as thin as rakes.
The Irrawaddy
May
1943