As children we knew little more

than he hadn’t had a good war.

He’d been captured in the Far East

where many of his comrades were slain,

left wounded in the knee,

and when the hostilities had ceased

he came back to Blacksmith’s Lane

to teach biology.

He must have been in constant pain,

total balance came uneasily,

nobody stared or made a fuss,

he brought the art of warfare to us.

Before he retired gangrene set in.

He died.