Describe a family member.

My dad was in the army

Twenty nine years and more

From thirty eight to sixty eight

He’d joined before the war.

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He spent the war in Burma

Fourteenth Army there

Then there was Malaya

A skirmish over there.

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A couple of spells in Germany

He had us kids by now

And three years out in Cyprus

When they had troubles there.

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He liked to keep strict discipline

‘Why?’, ‘Because I say.’

The punishment for being too slow;

A clip around the ear.

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He didn’t used to talk a lot

My mum made up for that.

He never talked about the war.

Said ‘soldiers don’t look back’.

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He always had a special chair

A pipe or cigarette.

He smoked a lot, he always had

We thought he’d never stop.

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Heart problems didn’t stop him

He simply didn’t stop

But when they said he’d lose a leg

He stopped it overnight.

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Sadly with the damage done

Quitting wasn’t enough

Though he lived a decent age

He suffered from a stroke.

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Because he didn’t say a lot

We never got that close

He’d quickly hand the telephone

Over to my mum.

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But now I’m getting older

I see myself in him

I am equally taciturn

Perhaps it comes from him.

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I’m not strong on discipline

I struggle to be stern

But his Scots dad was very strict

I think it came from him.

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My dad’s great strength was loyalty

He always stuck by us.

We sometimes don’t appreciate

Our parents till they’re gone.