The Death of A Hero

[10ClarionSt]

A friend of the family died recently. He was a WW2 veteran who survived for 3 days in the Arctic Ocean after his ship was sunk. Actually in the water, not in a lifeboat.

He was picked up by the Germans and spent 5 years in a P.O.W. camp.

I wrote this poem, and sent it to his family, who read it out at the funeral service, which was very nice.

A Hero passed this way.

He defied the mighty ocean.

The enemys' "hospitality", he faced with his devotion.

But he could not defeat

The relentless march of time

And the hero passed away.

I'm not usually given to doing something like that and I was very flattered wyhen they read it out.

Maybe there's just a tiny bit of the artist in us all eh?

[mycats]

I think it's lovely 10ClarionSt, very moving. Good for you x

[charles8080]

Out of interest, how did he face the "hospitality" with his devotion? I'm not sure what that means.

[charles8080]

I'm still not really sure what that means. How do you endure captivity through your devotion to duty?

Some people might think that the use of the word 'devotion' is more to do with the fact that it rhymes with 'ocean'.

[Clanad]

Never mind them 10... the passing of that generation deserves what you have accomplished...

Unless you do your best, the day will come when, tired and hungry, you will halt just short of the goal you were ordered to reach, and by halting you will make useless the efforts and deaths of thousands
Gen. George S. Patton... I would hope that our generation doesn't make useless the efforts and deaths of your Old Warrior...

[Cetti]

Clarion, what a wonderful tribute to a real gentleman - in the literal sense of the word.
This passing generation were so modest about their part in our freedom and most of us have no knowledge of their exploits, so thank you for sharing this with us.

How shaming for those that scoff at such a man.

[MustafaTickl]

I don't doubt the personal qualities of the man, but hero? Never. He didn't voluntarily jump into the sea, the Germans put him there. Then the Germans fished him out, took him back to their place, fed, watered, clothed and housed him free of cost and gave him an ordered life and kept him away from stress and danger for five years. Given the real difficulties in this country for the first seven years after the war I wouldn't mind betting that at times he secretly wished he was back in the peace of the camps. There is nothing heroic in being a prisoner of war for any period, let alone five years.

[charles8080]

There seems to be two different discussions here. Firstly, whether your friend was a hero who deserved to be commemorated. I don't disagree with you on that at all. Secondly, what the merits of the poem are. I don't think that it's very good. Sorry, but that's my opinion and this is the A&L section.

[MustafaTickl]

There was nothing heroic about trudging from Trondheim to Poland. How to view WWII POW's returning from Germany was decided at the time and did not include the word heroic. I should give thanks for what his generation endured? Twit. I was in the services in WWII, can still sing "Lili Marlene" in the beastly German language and my one souvenier picked up when it dug into me when I dived into a shell hole is a small German air raid sign hanging in this room and reading "Bombers den Minden !! Unter den Linden". Although it is German it is much better poetry than yours, which is saying something. My parrot does much better.

[MustafaTickl]

Oh, it's true alright old son. The parrot has been around here for decades and strings together it's own sentences, some of them poetic, and these, in my view, are much better than you. However we can have a bit of fun to decide it. You pick a topic and compose six lines of verse around it, I will put the topic to the parrot and faithfully record its reaction, all can be posted on here and the Answerbankers can give their opinion as to who is best. Post the topic as soon as you can, please.