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
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