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J O H N S T O N E W R I T E R S G R O U P |
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A poem for Remembrance Day JUST ORANGES by Betty McKellar Our maritime men The San Valerio men had brought the gift to them - oranges. Just oranges But in 1940 khaki dreichness Round little cheeks Smiled sunshine from them through Lochwinnoch cold And saucer eyes reflected gold And rosy lips and chins ran trickles from the sweetness And village days were lightened from the wartime dreichness As the San Valerio men left them to the oranges. And sailed again. And when the German bombers tracked them And blasted the San Valerio from the water And the men Were thrown to the lifeboats dark And tossed in the heaving hell of the Atlantic They saw only black And fear sat with them white-knuckled. At home in Lochwinnoch from our quiet church A simple schoolboy prayer soared up to heaven and found its mark " Please, God, bless them for the oranges, and bring them back." |