The Man Of War And Flowers Poem by Daniel Skentelbery

Looking through meddles
And long forgotten pictures;
A man sees a face he feels he should remember.
So much like himself;
Yet, so much younger,
Full of fear, and grief, and unwanted memories.

What he sees is,
Just a boy, no taller than his gun,
Who travelled far away, to fight the Hun.

He wasn't a patriot, a politician or a sinner.
Merely a boy searching for adventure
Merely a private, a soldier, a trencher.

Only 17, but the army wouldn't argue
All they needed were men willing to fight;
Standing loyal, I'm sure he fought with all his might.

And yet so little is known,
His stories untold,
Never a topic for conversation;
Yet who can blame him.
Full of fear and grief and unwanted memories;
He lived in the present, with family and flowers
Full of happiness and hope and treasured possibilities.

My mothers, fathers, father;
And, yet he looks so much like me
Why did he do it?
And How?
And could I?

So little is known of this young Private,
His stories still untold;
But, let us not forget this hero of men,
This man of war and flowers.