A Decorated Soldier Poem by Francis Duggan

A decorated soldier of war under gunfire he was brave
But he carried his grudges with him to his grave
His war enemies of the past he could never forgive
A war hero his grudges he did not outlive
Ten times a grandfather divorced from his wife
He did live a semi reclusive sort of a life
In the national flag he felt a fervent pride
A nationalist and a patriot till the day that he died
With his war medals on his coat he marched in the town's every war parade
He refused to allow old war memories for to fade
Though the war he had fought in was in decades long gone
His hatred of the old enemy in him did live on
As a young man in war he had proved himself brave
But he carried his grudges with him to his grave.