Some may find this story/poem is rather long. Fore such a short life.
He , just a boy , not long out of ,
Short trousers ,
Not even shaving ,
When he felt the call the sea
His mother know ,
Her blessing she did not give ,
What harm could there be ,
In her Reggie , joining ,
The merchant navy ,
He lied about his age ,
Reggie joined the crew of the ,
SS North Devon , a slow old ,
Rust bucket of a ship ,
The old ship fell behind the convoy ,
A Royal Navy escort ship , got up close by ,
It radioed '' can you speed up , captain? ,
''Aye'' , ''if we put the life boats out''
'' One 'ter pull 'ter'other , to push! ''
'' Very well '' , ''do your best old chap'' ,
''and good luck , old boy '',
Not before long , as the escort , dashed off ,
To catch up with the rest of the convoy ,
Three , German air plains , spotted the North Devon ,
They pounced , to much of an oppachonaty ,
Like birds of pray , they flew down and dropped three bombs ,
All three missed , but not with out harm ,
To explode underneath the '' North Devon '' ,
It ruptured the the steel plaiting's ,
Walter began to enter the North Devon ,
Steam pipes burst , engine room flooded ,
Sea water and piping hot steam ,
Reggie was trapped in his cabin , could not get out ,
His mate , Alf Tub , aged 18 , was a machine-gunner ,
He'd , gone to his station , ten minuets early ,
So has to get his eyes used too the dark ,
It were a full moon night , a bombers delight ,
When the plains began there attack ,
Alf , empted the magazine of it's .303's ,
Alf reckons he hit at least one in it's belly ,
The ''North Devon '' , was now listing to starboard ,
Some of the crew were diving , jumping in to the freezing sea ,
Alf, decided it were time too goo ,
But first , he must find his mate , Reggie ,
He spotted a mate , '' you seen , Reggie? ,
'' WEAR THE HELL IS REGGIE!'' , he shouted ,
''He's , trapped in his cabin , Alf '' '' nothing to be dun '' ,
''The ship's had it , fook it , she's fooked , mate ''
And if we don't get off , we're all fooked , mate!'' ,
'' Aye '' , '' the old Devon aint taking , Reggie , down with her! '' ,
''Not if I can get too him first!'' ,
The two of them had become mates , friends ,
Soon after Reggie , had joined the ship , as a cabin boy ,
Reggie was not happy , he realised the sea was not fore him ,
'' When this old tub ties up , I'm going home to me mam '' ,
'' They cant drag me back , I'm to young fore all this shit '' ,
Alf , recalled , Reggie , telling him ,
Alf , with this in mind , tried to get to his mate , Reggie ,
The escaping steam , like a wall met , Alf ,
He could not get through ,
Alf recalled the story's of soldier's in the last war ,
Pissing on cloth , to protect them from the gas ,
The cloth socked in his piss , could not prevent ,
The steam from blistering Alf's hand's ,
Pissed on cloth all right fore gas ,
Of no use against steam , Alf found out the hard way ,
With tears Alf , called out to , Reggie ,
''Sorry , Reggie I cant get through to yer , ''
Alf fell to his knees , tears shed , he'd not cried in years ,
It seamed to Alf , though he were just 18 , him self ,
Some how, the Devon , limped in to port ,
The remaining crew , the wounded and the dead ,
Disembarked ,
Reggie , sent back home too his mam and da ,
They were , told '' do not open his coffin '' ,
His coffin were taken to the spare room ,
That would have been ,Reggie's bedroom ,
Their to be left till the day his funeral
His mum and dad told '' do not open his coffin'' ,
''He's to scolded to be viewed ''
Reggie was laid to rest , with no grave stone ,
His mum and dad , could not afford one ,
The years passed , Alf , and Reggie's sister , Pauline ,
Began too look fore, Reggie's grave , though they had not ,
Met ,
They found his grave , now Reggie has his head stone ,
It's granite , with:
MM*
R ERNSHAW
BOY
SS NORTH DEVON
6TH JULY 1941
Rest in pease , Reggie.
* Merchant Marine
The Dyslexic Poet
Ken D Williams
Poetry by ken d williams
Read 633 times
Written on 2010-02-05 at 21:38
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REGINALD '' REGGIE'' ERNSHAW AGE 14 AND 152 DAYS (1941 )
Reggie was 14 152 days when he died ,He , just a boy , not long out of ,
Short trousers ,
Not even shaving ,
When he felt the call the sea
His mother know ,
Her blessing she did not give ,
What harm could there be ,
In her Reggie , joining ,
The merchant navy ,
He lied about his age ,
Reggie joined the crew of the ,
SS North Devon , a slow old ,
Rust bucket of a ship ,
The old ship fell behind the convoy ,
A Royal Navy escort ship , got up close by ,
It radioed '' can you speed up , captain? ,
''Aye'' , ''if we put the life boats out''
'' One 'ter pull 'ter'other , to push! ''
'' Very well '' , ''do your best old chap'' ,
''and good luck , old boy '',
Not before long , as the escort , dashed off ,
To catch up with the rest of the convoy ,
Three , German air plains , spotted the North Devon ,
They pounced , to much of an oppachonaty ,
Like birds of pray , they flew down and dropped three bombs ,
All three missed , but not with out harm ,
To explode underneath the '' North Devon '' ,
It ruptured the the steel plaiting's ,
Walter began to enter the North Devon ,
Steam pipes burst , engine room flooded ,
Sea water and piping hot steam ,
Reggie was trapped in his cabin , could not get out ,
His mate , Alf Tub , aged 18 , was a machine-gunner ,
He'd , gone to his station , ten minuets early ,
So has to get his eyes used too the dark ,
It were a full moon night , a bombers delight ,
When the plains began there attack ,
Alf , empted the magazine of it's .303's ,
Alf reckons he hit at least one in it's belly ,
The ''North Devon '' , was now listing to starboard ,
Some of the crew were diving , jumping in to the freezing sea ,
Alf, decided it were time too goo ,
But first , he must find his mate , Reggie ,
He spotted a mate , '' you seen , Reggie? ,
'' WEAR THE HELL IS REGGIE!'' , he shouted ,
''He's , trapped in his cabin , Alf '' '' nothing to be dun '' ,
''The ship's had it , fook it , she's fooked , mate ''
And if we don't get off , we're all fooked , mate!'' ,
'' Aye '' , '' the old Devon aint taking , Reggie , down with her! '' ,
''Not if I can get too him first!'' ,
The two of them had become mates , friends ,
Soon after Reggie , had joined the ship , as a cabin boy ,
Reggie was not happy , he realised the sea was not fore him ,
'' When this old tub ties up , I'm going home to me mam '' ,
'' They cant drag me back , I'm to young fore all this shit '' ,
Alf , recalled , Reggie , telling him ,
Alf , with this in mind , tried to get to his mate , Reggie ,
The escaping steam , like a wall met , Alf ,
He could not get through ,
Alf recalled the story's of soldier's in the last war ,
Pissing on cloth , to protect them from the gas ,
The cloth socked in his piss , could not prevent ,
The steam from blistering Alf's hand's ,
Pissed on cloth all right fore gas ,
Of no use against steam , Alf found out the hard way ,
With tears Alf , called out to , Reggie ,
''Sorry , Reggie I cant get through to yer , ''
Alf fell to his knees , tears shed , he'd not cried in years ,
It seamed to Alf , though he were just 18 , him self ,
Some how, the Devon , limped in to port ,
The remaining crew , the wounded and the dead ,
Disembarked ,
Reggie , sent back home too his mam and da ,
They were , told '' do not open his coffin '' ,
His coffin were taken to the spare room ,
That would have been ,Reggie's bedroom ,
Their to be left till the day his funeral
His mum and dad told '' do not open his coffin'' ,
''He's to scolded to be viewed ''
Reggie was laid to rest , with no grave stone ,
His mum and dad , could not afford one ,
The years passed , Alf , and Reggie's sister , Pauline ,
Began too look fore, Reggie's grave , though they had not ,
Met ,
They found his grave , now Reggie has his head stone ,
It's granite , with:
MM*
R ERNSHAW
BOY
SS NORTH DEVON
6TH JULY 1941
Rest in pease , Reggie.
* Merchant Marine
The Dyslexic Poet
Ken D Williams
Poetry by ken d williams
Read 633 times
Written on 2010-02-05 at 21:38
Save as a bookmark (requires login) Write a comment (requires login) Send as email (requires login) Print text
