No family heroics, my placid father
one of Bevin's necessary hinds,
ploughing for victory, handling horses
no more suited to cavalry charges than he.

Transplanted to Shropshire, he carried on as before
the shooting match began, rising with mist
still on the fields, while in the town the platforms
breathed khaki, filling and emptying like lungs.

Whether he felt, in pubs, obscure dishonour;
whether he was feathered on buses or trams,
seen as a shirker or worse, he never said.
It seems unlikely. His hands were hard, his mission

clear, and not to be misunderstood
by those who stayed or those who now returned
with clanking chests and decommissioned revolvers.
To him, they were all civilians.

When I saw 'Bevin's hinds', I immediately assumed he'd gone to work in the mines (the famous Bevin boys), but as I guess he Bevin would be in charge of agricultural exemptions from military service I suppose it stands. I'm unclear, David, whether or no the last line is indicating he was a conscientious objector. My eldest brother was such, having difficulty before the tribunal in arguing his case because he was an atheist. He succeeded and joined the Friends' Ambulance Service, and served in the front line in Europe. This ramble may help those who would have no recall of Ernest Bevin.

Cheers

milner

enjoy this all through, and a fascinating subject, David, but find last L unclear. does "they" include himself or not? what exactly is the implication? Tom

Another wonderful piece, David.

Milner, thank you for the probably necessary (for Silent and all our American friends) background to Bevin. I should have thought to put some of that up myself. No, he wasn't a conscientious objector, just removed from the line of fire by his chosen vocation. Your brother must have had a lot of courage to stand up for his beliefs like that.

Very good point, Tom. I meant that he saw (or I imagine he saw) non-farmers as civilians. In a sense, farming was his frontline activity, and he didn't feel he'd failed to do "his duty" or anything. I believe he did think, in some way, though, that he'd "missed out" on the glamour of the uniform. Not that it was always that glamorous, and he knew it.

Many thanks, Lavonne!

Cheers

David

Ages ago when I used to hitchhike in uniform many of my rides told that they had never been in uniform and they feel that they may have missed something important.

Thanks for that, Quentin. It's not quite the point of the poem, but it illustrates one of my asides.

Cheers

David