Fireflies Over the Somme
She led me to a lonely forest glade, where fireflies flew and faeries might have played,
The brooding sky was blood red, pure delight, the half-light glowed as dusk turned into night,
We lay among white lilies in the mist, she winked and beat her wings before she kissed,
Then whispered sweetest nothings in my ear, the promise dying soldiers yearn to hear.
I savoured evening primrose on her hair, the scent of rose on blushing cheeks so fair,
The silky veil she barely stood within, I felt her heartbeat on me, through her skin.
We talked of love and war and hurt and pain, we wondered: dare we dream of peace again?
She showed me future, wondrous, happy things, engraved in peacock’s eyes upon her wings,
She told me to lay back and bare the scar, which tore my chest and belly wide apart,
I screamed her name, Meluse, in agony, as she picked all the shrapnel out of me,
She gently cleansed the bad blood from my chest, then kissed my eyes and said:
‘It’s time to rest.’
She led me to a lonely forest glade, where fireflies flew and faeries might have played…