Lest We Forget - Volume 17 www.legionnl.ca 131 continued .... A Shattered Soul – War takes its toll “I was drifting in a burning ocean with much terror in my eyes, There was a silver cruiser gliding, lit up by the flashing sky. I saw Wallace Greene, standing, on the bridge, riding by, There were sailors crying and sailors dying, as he waved his hand, good-bye. All in a dream, all in a dream, the nightmares have begun, Nagging painful sights etched in my brain, All I hear are those blasted guns. Nagging painful sights etched in my brain, All I hear are those blasted guns”(11) Si! Wake up! Wake up! Si! It’s me, I’m here, it’s you and me, Why are you moaning, waving and screaming. You’re home in your bed, it’s another bad dream, Shhh! Shhh! You’re okay, you’re here with me; Jennie. Settle now, be still, you’ll wake the family, Go back to sleep, try to think about pleasant deeds. The war is over; you’ve got to forget, Those terrible memories and all its side effects. “How many more shifts have I got to work in the God forsaken mill? It’s a wonder I’m not a toothpick from climbing Crescent Heights Hill!” The tour of duty that bothered him, that he really came to hate, Was that commonly dreaded, graveyard shift that went from twelve to eight. He would sit and ponder in his Lazyboy chair, then tilt his head and calmly stare. Then stick his finger straight up by his ear and twirl his sparse and light grey hairs. He would mumble, mutter and sputter, then utter some rousing funny lines. Like “what odds about it, even if you are the baglady; poor ‘ol Winnie Hynes.” Talking to himself really became a popular family event, As he would, more often than not, answer himself and usually give consent. Well, Si b’y, the time has come, the wise man said, To do some other things, even if it is, staying in bed. It was a pleasure to work with you, for almost forty years, To look back at your anecdotes, punny jokes and even sad filled tears. You will be missed, Si b’y, you’re a fine gentleman, a wonderful, kind soul, We wish you much happiness and hope you live to be quite old. “I pondered on those days gone by, as I sat beside the mill, And gazed upon the setting sun, as it sank beneath the hill. I gazed on it once more, me boys, ‘twas the very sight I seen, It’s just the same, now as it ‘twas, when we were sweet sixteen. Oh, how I long for those bright days to come again once more, But come again they never will for now I’m sixty-four.”(12)
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