Red Beret

Red Beret

Please forgive me as I did not know
how you suffered as a soldier Joe
The pain you bore all through your life
kept from your family and your wife

As I listen to tales from other men
who served beside you way back then
of fear and loss and bravery too
I did not know that this was you

All walks of life stood side by side
in a regiment that was your pride
A red beret is what you wore
you gave your all and then some more

The war raged on for all those years
the fighting, praying and sometimes tears
how could I know of friends who died
as you kept it all  locked up inside

You knew that peacetime had to come
and the army they would send you home
but where you ready for civvie life
as you returned to your lovely wife

The times you leapt beneath the bed
as aeroplanes flew overhead
and when you cried out loud with fright
and whimpered as you slept at night

I did not know or understand
why you became that distant man
or how you found it hard to say
the things you felt from day to day

The picture hangs up on our wall
shows a soldier young and tall
way back then in another time
before my father you were mine

Liz Dey