My maiden aunt had little chance. <br />Because the man she was to wed <br />Was one of those who fell in France <br />listed as missing presumed dead. <br /> <br />Her happiness a casualty <br /> which never figured in the news <br />She had to face reality <br /> a future which she did not choose. <br /> <br />She was condemned to life alone <br />Because so many young men died <br />all chance of motherhood was gone. <br /> She bore her fate with stoic pride. <br /> <br />She helped to raise her sister’s brood. <br /> Her husband too unfit to go. <br /> She mothered them as best she could <br /> the only joy she’d ever know. <br /> <br />She was a treasure left unclaimed <br /> a mother she would never be. <br />Only the Great War could be blamed <br />for many women’s misery. <br /> <br />She lived to see a ripe old age. <br /> She died in nineteen forty one <br /> just long enough to see the stage <br /> prepared for another one. <br /> <br />Another war to end all wars <br /> Just as the first Great War had been. <br />To her it was a hopeless cause <br /> she saw the slaughter as obscene. <br /> <br />Young men will answer to the call <br /> but womenfolk are left behind <br />To mourn their menfolk when they fall <br />A fate that’s very far from kind. <br /> <br />I think that she was glad to go <br /> she knew from hard experience. <br />What other girls would come to know <br />when sorrow takes up residence. <br /> <br />20-Jan-08<br /><br />ivor or ivor.e hogg<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/without-just-cause/
