Is this the
drawer
where Grandad
kept his gun
wrapped in an old crepe bandage?
This drawer
with tortured walnut
veneer
where I now
keep my socks?
An old service
revolver
from his time
in the war
the Great War
wrapped in a crepe bandage
and tucked at
the back
of this drawer
next to a small
cardboard box
of ammunition.
And did you
find it once
when, aged
fourteen,
on a cold
Sunday afternoon
you were
searching
in forbidden
places
for string
or a thimble
or some such
thing?
And did you
when you spoke
to him later
of your find
and though the
sharp rebuke had
stung your ear
then understand
what he had
had in mind
during the dark
days
of 1941
when Hitler
seemed invincible
when the War
seemed lost
when he had
promised you
and Joyce
and Grandma
that Adolf
would never
take his family
alive?
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