Photo of Schoolboys
Once I saw a photograph
taken by a 71 year old
Japanese tourist
in pre-WW 2 London
Black and white print
of schoolboys with satchels
and shining morning faces
walking briskly down the street
to the brick building -
King Edward IV grammar school
sometime in 1939
The retired entrepreneur from
Yokohama was touring London
when he happened on the scene
and set up his camera
I imagine the chalky teacher
in the classroom and the boys
scrunched over their tasks
I see the lads graduating in due time
and donning Army khaki and RAF blue
I see the Japanese grandfather as his
grandsons land on shores far from home
Boys from London and Yokohama
barely tasting manhood on foreign shores
They lie at peace now
poem by Michael Pruchnicki
Added by Poetry Lover
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