Axis & Allies - damowords

Blood‐Ties
By sleeper train the war‐haunted Constance
Traverses southern plains of Germany,
A mind confused left miles behind in France,
His family but half a family;
One letter read
So much the folds were torn,
The man he thought was dead alive & all alone.
He steps in from the busy street
To see a portly butcher,
What moment when the boy shall greet
The man that is his father,
Max turns around, puts down his meat,
Sees another Stemmler;
ʺGuten Tag!ʺ utterʹd in broken German,
ʺGuten tag,” a pause, ʺHerr, I am your son…”
They close the shop & take a walk,
Four decades of suspense
Allayʹd in talk, at this fair fork,
Two rivers confluence...
Aimeeʹs fair smile, Der Fuhrer & the death of innocence.
Donauwurth
1953
Viet Minh
Some to the wars to try their fortunes there,
In Indo‐China Ho Chi Minh arise,
Still the Frenchman wears his arrogant air,
Not knowing what lies ‘neath the slanty‐eyes;
This ‘Republic’
Scoff’d at as bon hommes pour
Into a fresh conflict, but grand unfinish’d war.
Thro trees surrounding Dien Bien Phu
Men equipt by the Chinese,
Those Viet Minh, a ragged crew,
Close the distance by degrees,
Steel thunders blew airstrips askew,
The foe starv’d to les knees,
Eighty thousand parachutes cloak the ground,
“Zey ‘as no wheels, ‘ow do zey move around”
Paris once had an Empire here
& now Paris has none,
In flight & fear they disappear,
The Uncleʹs war is won,
Freeing his race from servitude looks Southwards to Saigon.
Hanoi
1954