The literary life of EDWARD JAMES, author,reviewer, occasional poet and former pension adviser to the government of Kyrgyzstan
TELL US ABOUT THE PEACE, MISS,
TELL US ABOUT THE PEACE!
Last year I was invited to speak at my grandsons’ Primary School to talk to the children about what it had been like to be a child in the Second World War. As I watched them listening attentively (or so I hoped) I remembered listening to my teacher during the war as she told us about life in peacetime, which of course none of her class could remember. This inspired me to this piece of verse.
Tell us about the Peace, Miss, tell us about the Peace!
About the wonderful things you saw
Before they started this boring war,
Of all the different sorts of sweets
And lines of lights along the streets.
Tell us abut the Peace, Miss, tell us about the Peace!
Of toffees crammed in tall glass jars
And machines that sold you chocolate bars,
Of signs that lit up in the night
And shops that shone with neon light.
Tell us about the Peace, Miss, tell us about the Peace!
Of Dads who played with little boys
With brightly painted metal toys,
And Mums who stayed at home to bake
Unrationed meals and fruity cake.
Tell us about the Peace, Miss, tell us about the Peace!
Your world was so exciting
Before they started fighting.
Your tales of wonder never cease
When you talk to us about the Peace.
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