grandpa franz's war diary

with all of your close friends watching
and your family gathered nearby
hearts thundering at the leaving, heaving
with the woman you love in your eyes
you wrote of bombs exploding the harbour
in your diary among that ‘43 roar
missing your loved ones in every drop
a man of peace caught in a war

when the stars came over the pacific
pin-holes of hope for you to depart
you came home to father my mother
a sense of adventure in your heart

with all of her close friends watching
and her family gathered by
hearts thundering from the heaving, receiving
i was the first one in my mother’s eye
when i slept at the foot of yours and nana’s bed
i had a dream of mud trenches and war
and we slept as rain fell over blackburn
‘til peace blanketed you in the stars i adore

when you travelled nights in your caravan
adventures that filled my mother’s heart
journeys beyond towns into the unknown
your compassion wrapped ‘round her heart

with all of my close friends watching
and my family living nearby
my heart renders mountains and rivers
as a heart-land of love in my eyes
i write in a hotel set by a river
that you defended in your ’43 war
missing love through oak streaming sunlight
like the woman you loved evermore...



when the stars come over the riverina
and my gazanias to the new dawn
i am a colour in the seeds you’d sown
hope’s sun makes me feel warm

and for another generation
for our tree a branch to extend
i seek a woman for this diary
just as you wrote to your life-long friend
i seek a lover for my eternity
just as my mother is my father’s closest friend