Family - The Visitor Poem by Paul Warren

He was a blacksmith well below her expectation
Her family cast their critical eye in low anticipation
She played a sweet violin when his father met her
In secret they decided on a life as one together
The Depression hit hard and his smithy was lost
Drinking heavy with his family last was the cost
Out of the house some nights when it was bad
Huddled on a park bench was all that they had.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

By now the family had two brothers and a sister
The Depression ensured times were quite sinister
The family plan was to weather the hardest time
His father packed up and to the country was fine
An uncle's fruit block to put them into the groove
This change for the boy was for him a bold move
The sons fished out their father's stocked scrape
Next a car one steering one the accelerator and brake.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

His mother stayed with her man and the drinking bouts
A staunch Christian she was and there were no outs
The years rolled along and they all became older
The sons helped their mother and both became bolder
The father settled some and found work on the wharf
As the time went along it seemed to be a better course
Then she was with child in danger to go to full term
Her doctor's advice to terminate was his concern.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.
 
A true Christian wouldn't end it and her decision was final
When the child was born the family was left with denial
She passed and a close aunt found him ironing in tears
What now to do with the children was a decision with fears
His sister to one aunt, the baby brother to another
The boy was left with his father as to take him a bother
Until one day his father's brother could stand it no more
He took him home to leave him there with his father a flaw.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

His future was uncertain an early end to his school
Loading wool at the warehouses was the rule
A love of wood working was the next twist
His skills learnt working with his Uncle on his list
The war was raging and his brother he did follow
Into the Navy his move to counter his sorrow
First training in Melbourne was next on the programme
It was the first time from home as very young man.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

One night in his bunk a restless sleep he was having
Deep in the night his mother appeared to give warning
In his ear she whispered the danger not to deny
It will happen tomorrow the ones before you will die
The next morning it was Bofors gun drills for the watch
They were lined up in groups for the gun crews to match
It was a serious drill and the ammunition was real
The misfire in the breach the group before him did kill.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.
 
He was posted to a ship the Arunta its tribal name
Out on the ocean in a destroyer wasn't a game
The Japanese were beaten but some wouldn't stop
They had to be hunted down to finish their mop
To the Pacific and then onto Japan was the cruise
To Nagasaki after the bomb for him did not amuse
He didn't know it then but the radiation had started
It would take forty years for his life to be martyred.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

Back to the sea with the American Seventh Fleet
Action stations stand to the guns was their feat
It was his time for a rest and he laid on deck to sleep
She came to him again with a smile to complete
Another warning she gave of a China Sea typhoon
The danger would come on the morrow quite soon
The next day other ships were lost in the storm
It would be near but his promised safety the norm.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

One night on a long watch the heat was stifling
Asleep on the gun turret top was not trifling
Action stations and the ship turned to the call
Down to the deck and onto his back he did fall
It was the end of his service for Australia at sea
Back to his family home returned he did agree
Planning his life with his love he was married
His thoughts of his mother he always carried.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

There was a life together and a family they built
Five sons in a row was what the union did yield
I was at the middle point and grew to a man
I started my life and my own family was the plan
But my father's war service wasn't finished just yet
The radiation from the bomb meant cancer he did get
My father did not see a son who was my first born
The great blessing was tempered with his death so forlorn.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

We were new parents with a new life to charter
I needed some support prayed to speak to my father
That night of restless tossing and of turning
He appeared to me with the advice I was yearning
There was a look of sadness and he shook his head
There would be a problem in our future to tread
This visit was to tell my son has health issues too clear
My father's warnings came to me like his mother's did so dear.

You will find in the end the love you give
Means those who pass will always live
In your heart and close by your side
When they're needed to turn the tide.

© Paul Warren Poetry