Old Digger Luke Poem by Francis Duggan

Old digger Luke is feeling down and I often hear him say
It would not worry me at all were I to die today
Why should I fear the grim reaper after all I've been through
Since I fought in the trenches in Europe in World War 2.

Don't talk to me of war says Luke for I don't wish to recall
Of how I survived where my brave comrades like ninepins did fall
A young soldier must have died for every stone that built the Berlin wall
And the bloodshed and the suffering seemed pointless after all.

Don't talk to me of life says Luke I know all about life
In that old graveyard by the sea lay the bones of my wife
And with her lay our only son he died quite needlessly
When the car his young friend was driving left the road and hit a tree.

Don't talk of war and death and life to Luke for he won't pretend to hear
And for the dreaded grim reaper he doesn't hold any fear
He says I've been around so long I now am ninety one
And I don't want to waffle on of battles lost and won.

A heroic survivor of the war some sixty years ago
He shuffles to the shops each day the years have made him slow
He does not talk of war and life and death he does not fear
And he feels happy it would seem that his end to him is near.