Barry

Later, lying on the lawn of the big house

someone asked could we remove our jackets.

No one had taken charge

we were young officers

and I took mine off.

And then (or earlier)

we were in the battle zone

taking cover behind parked cars

postboxes, phone booths

and in abandoned trams

when my friend took one full in the chest

and went down without a word.

“Way to go,” I thought

and imagined the sniper reporting “I got one”

and being doubted

but I could have attested to it

the perfect shot.

And then the shelling and the strafing began.

Later I wrote a report (I was good at that)

and I remembered lying out on the lawn

of the big house

that was called “Mandalay”

in the hot sun

and Barry asking about our jackets

and I removing mine

and Ian saying “In the enemy army

you could be shot for that.”

The battle zone wasn’t always a city

sometimes it was jungle

where our first foes were mosquitoes

who took our blood

and flew away with it

like bees, Barry joked

taking pollen

from the full flower of our youth.