Kids In A War Poem by John Rickell

We took the table leg
set it on a stand, a nail at either end
and another in the middle
found a wheel from a pedal car
a solid disc and red
put the wheel on the middle nail,
we had our Lewis gun.
Stood vigil after school
shot everything in sight
but never in the night,
or mornings of a Sunday.
The Derwent Light Railway
ran at the back,
ammunition sheep and cattle
wobbled on its way to Dunnington
on spaghetti rails and grass,
stood on the wash-post to watch it pass.
Chase butterflies off Dad's spring cabbage
while he was at work,
then back to our gun beside the shed
its extra concrete roof and thickened walls
in case a bomb fell close.....
safe against the blast
to be crushed beneath the concrete
(so Dad had said to Mum)
He was an Air-Raid -Warden,
had a ladder and a bucket
SP on the door to say we had a pump.
They bombed the other end,
one went off and killed a dog
burnt the house right down
we were beneath the 'Morrison'
in the living room, bullets on the wall
the Lewis gun stood silent.
The playing field across the bridge
its swings and rusting roundabouts.
One afternoon, on Saturday
we found a railway detonator
hit it with a brick
shattering November's war time silence,
scattered to our homes and gardens
waiting for the Bobby....no one came
the guilt remains but Oh what fun!
The walk to uncle Harry's
was through the gas works snicket
tall gas filled towers grey with threat
smoking retorts, cross railway tracks
no gates, look right then left,
all posh today, Mercedes at the doors.
One Sunday afternoon
they hit the tallest holder
they knew it was there
they'd built it in the twenties;
turned round went home for tea,
but a Polish chap got them,
before the siren went
somewhere near the coast.
Our Lewis gun was silent,
watched it in our Sunday clothes.
Potatoes in the flower beds
tape on window panes
black curtain screens to stop the glass.
But when the sun shone
we chased the butterflies,
ran to see the train to Dunnington.
Marbles on the way to school
soccer games between the grates
there was a war..heard it on the wireless
but we were kids and found it fun.