Without Just Cause. Poem by ivor or ivor.e hogg
Without Just Cause.
My maiden aunt had little chance.
Because the man she was to wed
Was one of those who fell in France
listed as missing presumed dead.
Her happiness a casualty
which never figured in the news
She had to face reality
a future which she did not choose.
She was condemned to life alone
Because so many young men died
all chance of motherhood was gone.
She bore her fate with stoic pride.
She helped to raise her sister’s brood.
Her husband too unfit to go.
She mothered them as best she could
the only joy she’d ever know.
She was a treasure left unclaimed
a mother she would never be.
Only the Great War could be blamed
for many women’s misery.
She lived to see a ripe old age.
She died in nineteen forty one
just long enough to see the stage
prepared for another one.
Another war to end all wars
Just as the first Great War had been.
To her it was a hopeless cause
she saw the slaughter as obscene.
Young men will answer to the call
but womenfolk are left behind
To mourn their menfolk when they fall
A fate that’s very far from kind.
I think that she was glad to go
she knew from hard experience.
What other girls would come to know
when sorrow takes up residence.
20-Jan-08
A very moving poem and story Ivor! Loved reading it a work of art for sure! ! *10*! ! Friend Thad
Your aunt was a lady through and through. Great poem. I still find it amazing that after the senseless slaughter of World War I the Germans embraced Hitler and rushed to plunge the world into war again. It is ironic that in their efforts to avoid war and appease Hitler, the French and British Prime Ministers only emboldened him to take the rest of Czechoslovakia and then Poland. I guess people forget the horrors of war as Carl Sandburg so eloquently stated in his poem 'Grass'. It is a shame really, the number of lives wasted to satisfy tyrants, and while I am a patriot I grieve also for the men who have died to stop the tyrants. I am babbling now. World Wars I an II weigh heavy in my mind, and I do not think mankind has learned the lesson yet.
Brilliant Ivor. What a moving and wonderful poem. A super read and I loved it. Great storyline, and a lovely tribute to a brave lady. Love and hugs Ernestine XXX
This poem has not been translated into any other language yet.
I would like to translate this poem
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5/5/2024 12:25:20 AM # 1.0.0.1119
Very sad and still true, there are families today everywhere that have lost a father, a son, a husband, a friend. To what? Without just cause is true. A horribly true poem....well written thanks for sharing michael