Missing Pieces Poem by Raymond Farrell

He became unwell when I was seven
Struggled with declining health for years
Then one cold December night
When I was twelve
He died in the local hospital
I was staying across town
At a cousin's place
Someone came into my bedroom
Woke me up, and said
Your father just passed away
I recalled a gentle kind man
Irish, as was my mother
But even-tempered unlike her
We never played ball together
We never had any heart to heart talks
I just remember, when I asked
If I could have an air gun
My mother immediately
Violently opposed the idea
But one day he came home from work
And gave me a new air gun
It was decades after his death
When I had established my clinical practice
I was walking down the main street
When Mr. Waxman an elderly Jewish gentleman
Beckoned to me from a bench
I went over to see him
He said to me
You're Kenny Farrell's son aren't you?
Yes I am Mr. Waxman
Kenny was my best friend in high school
He was going to be a dentist
But then the Depression came along
And ended all that
No money, none of them student loans back then
So he apprenticed to be a watchmaker
At his uncle's jewelry store
But what I wanted to tell you is this
When Hitler came into power
One of Kenny's cousins had been
Living and studying in Germany
She came back home
Just before 1939 and the war began
Kenny told me about it
She said Hitler is stirring up the Germans
Against the Jews
And it ain't right Harry
I think there's going to be a war
If there is I'm going to fight
It just ain't right
Well you know he signed up
I didn't know the details Mr. Waxman
But there is an old regimental photo at home
With him in it
I don't know anything else
Because we never talked about it
All I have is that picture.