A Light From the Lisbon Maru

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A Light From the Lisbon Maru

by

Bert Garradley

 

They were prisoners held by Japan,

All stout defenders of Hong Kong;

They were there since the war in the East began,

Closely knit but a fragile throng.

 

They went to the land of the Rising Sun,

Unfed, bewildered and forlorn,

Compelled by the whim of the eager gun

To wish that they had never been born!

 

Once they were armed and neatly furled like flags,

Bonded to fight with dignity.

But later they cringed tattered in rags,

Defenceless from malignity.

 

Some were the survivers of a ship

Taht was sunk by a torpedo crew,

Who were all determined to make that trip

The last of the Lisbon Maru.

 

They were battened tight within their holds

Despairing, no longer proud,

And those that died, though grom separate moulds,

Were buried in the same grim shroud.

 

Those who lived were drawn like floating dross

To the crowded surface of the sea,

But later others died upon the cross,

And the rest survived like me!

 

Years on in thought I take a longer pause

To stem the tears I always shed,

When I perceive the frequency of wars,

And then relive the pain of dread.

 

A light descends on those with swords ungirt,

Advancing beyond all thought

A warning beam of love that eases hurt,

And clings as friend help is sought.

 

My prayers for all concerned who lived and died,

For comrades and for foes alike

Are offered now, all fully sanctified

With love, the Godly essence of my Psych

 

 

 

[Fepow Day] [Appeal-Poems] [Despair-Poems] [A Child Soldiers Mother] [A Light From the Lisbon Maru] [Army that Was Betrayed] [Changi Stew] [Christmas Day in Taiwan] [Disabled Squaddie] [Down the Mine] [Fall of Corregidor] [Far East Prisoner of War] [FEPOW Guide To Life] [Five Thousand] [Forgotten Army] [Hill on Taiwan] [Kobe House Blues] [Lament] [Laughing Boy] [Lisbon Maru] [Little Boys that Churchill Forgot] [Nightmares] [Night Terror] [No Hand To Hold] [My Jailers] [One God Too Many Devils] [Prison Camp Mirage] [Quitter] [Rice] [Singapore] [Singapore the Mighty Fortress] [Soldiers Lament] [Song of the Railroad] [Special Parade] [Taiwan Camp No2 1942] [The Dance] [The Railway] [Thoughts of a Soldier] [Unknown Grave] [Victim] [Work] [Hope-Poems] [Remembrance-Poems]

 

 

© Copyright Ron.Taylor@fepow-day.org