Sunday 3 May 2020

A letter to the Second World War


A LETTER TO THE SECOND WORLD WAR

Dear Mrs War,
the one middle-aged Britons hanker for,
you happened, so you're not there any more.

Why do we lack, 
seeing your legacies, the will to hack
them for our own day and not want you back?

What should I say?
Not being there, you cannot go away.
Please fade.  Napoleon's did. They had their day.



This poem was originally written in response to one of the prompts in Jo Bell's 52: write a poem a week.  It was for number 20, to write a poem in the form of a letter. 

It has attained no publication higher than self-publication as part of a social media conversation.  I tweeted it in response to colleague Clare Trowell's disquiet, working from home on a rainy day, at the sound of a Spitfire beyond the clouds.

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