Post-War Plans Poem by Cicely Fox Smith

“When this ‘ere war’s finished,” Bill said,
“If we ain’t all dead,
Most of the crowd’s all for quittin’ the sea.
Joe’s goin’ in for a chip shop or fish maybe;
Young Charlie’s talkin’ about a motor garage,
And Bert’s idea’s mate of a cement barge
So’s he can get ‘ome once in a while for tea;
Ginger says ‘e’s goin’ in for a little place down Essex way
Where ‘e can set back quiet an’ watch the ‘ens lay . . .
But me - well, I’m going on sixty-six,
And you can’t learn an old dog new tricks,
So I’m goin’ to find
The first Jerry I can and kick his be’ind,
And then - well, seems to me
I can’t do much better than go back to sea.