Re-Union Poem by Thomas Vaughan Jones

Re-Union

Rating: 5.0


The sound of muted voices,
heard from another age,
spirits of long dead soldiers
who'd turned their final page.
Old Joe sat in the corner,
left all alone at last,
hearing the secret whispers
as he relived his past.

He'd met here with his comrades
for over sixty years,
fighting those ancient battles,
the love, the joys, the tears.
Tonight the hall was empty,
as Time, Immortal Foe,
completed all that carnage
begun so long ago.

Old soldiers can be stubborn.
Joe sat, and waited for
a lad named Tommy Atkins
to march in through the door.
For Joe and his pal Tommy
had walked through shot and shell,
their loyalty and friendship
surviving years of Hell.

Old Joe recalled the moment
his leg was shot away,
and good old Tommy Atkins
had saved his life that day.
Tom carried him to safety,
and then, an old spent round
caught Tommy in the temple.
He fell without a sound.

Both of the wounded heroes
were invalided home,
they swore that they'd be comrades
wherever they might roam.
Now, at their last reunion,
Joe sipped his tepid beer,
and waited with a deepening dread,
for Tommy wasn't here.

Joe looked around in dark despair,
his heart was sick and sore,
and then his face lit up with joy
as Tom walked through the door.
Joe gasped in sheer amazement,
for Tommy's face was clean.
The blemish of the bullet's scar
was no more to be seen.

Tom stepped up, young and sprightly,
saluted his friend Joe.
'Come on old pal, the bugle blows,
its time for us to go'
Old Joe stood to attention,
they marched out side by side.
Out to the waiting regiment.
Those comrades who had died.

The barman watched Joe's corner,
and said with some dismay,
'Old Joe looks awfully quiet,
I think he's passed away'
But Joe had had a miracle,
he'd found once more his feet,
and rank and file with his soldier Pals,

marched off to the drummers beat.

POET'S NOTES ABOUT THE POEM
This is a form of nostalgia that probably only an old soldier or military wife could fully appreciate, but I hope others will enjoy, if only for the rhyme.
COMMENTS OF THE POEM
Gary Drake 20 March 2014

You know I rarely post comments on others work because I consider myself unqualified, but Tom, If you read the story of what motivated me to write my piece 'Remembrance Day' then you'll know what I mean when I say you read my mind and put it into verse far better than I did.

1 0 Reply
Valerie Dohren 16 March 2014

I am not an old soldier or a military wife, but I fully appreciate this one Thomas, it's brilliant and incredibly poignant.

0 0 Reply
Thomas Vaughan Jones 09 March 2014

I forgot to add that this is a true story. Only the names have been changed. Tommy Atkins is, of course, the pseudonym for every British soldier, as presented by Rudyard Kipling.

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