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Friendship

FRIENDSHIP

Perhaps you, my blog readers, could help me understand something about this poem that my father wrote:  As you get towards the end you’ll see a line about a ‘flare’;  what do you think was happening?  Read the whole poem and let me know if you can enlighten me.

Sixty-nine refers to Hill 69 near Gaza, Palestine, where my father’s battalion was recovering after having defended Tobruk in Libya;  at Hill 69 they did further training as well as garrison and border protection.

The photo shows the first verse in his handwriting but I’ve transcribed all the verses, which you’ll see below the image.  I was inspired by the ‘Friendship’ theme of this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge to add this poem, which, you’ll find, is about friendship in war.

The poem is signed with my father’s initials, R.E.B.  I ask that it not be copied without my permission and without credit to him.

Red Kane of 69

“Something’s brewing,” said Red to his mate,
As they gazed along the line,
“It don’t get quiet for nothing,
Not here, at Sixty-nine.”
He thought of a time, two months ago,
He got a similar hunch,
And Jerrie came over in “Spitfires”,
And wiped out most of his bunch.

The “TRICK” was as old as the bloody hills,
The one they pulled that night.
In a couple of patched-up Spitfires,
They made that bloody flight;
All eyes looked in their direction,
The shout went up, “All’s Well”,
In came the bloody Spitfires,
Turning loose All Hell.

“I’ll square that deal, cobbers,” he said,
Damned near fit to howl,
“Even if it cost me me bloody life,”
“By bloody fair means or fowl;”
For he was a Dinkum Aussie,
Big and strong as a lion,
And he was a natural marksman too,
Red Kane, of Sixty-nine.

And now as he gazed across the sand,
Something to him was clear,
There was Jerry movement on tonight,
And to him came a great idea;
And so he spoke in whispers,
As he conversed with his mate,
Tonight they’d square a deal,
Regardless of their fate.

The Jerries moved with caution,
More cautious still, was Kane,
He wondered how his mate was,
If things panned out the same;
Complete in every detail now,
He lay face down, in prayer,
For five in every hundred yards,
He’d set and laid a flare.

That night, his mates were avenged,
Paid back, more than two-fold,
Paid by the help of his very own life,
For he now lay stiff and cold;
He’s gone to the great Beyond now,
A place of Perfect Design,
And greater love hath no man,
Than Red Kane of Sixty-nine.

Ronald E. Bruce, 1941
© Patricia Worth, 2012

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366 unusual things: days 154-158

2nd June –  My daughter-in-law, dressed as Madeline from the book by Ludwig Bemelmans, dropped in after work.  She works in a bookshop.

3rd June – Heard a woman on the news complaining of child care centre costs, saying it costs almost as much as she earns but she keeps working, anyway, so she doesn’t lose her skills.  But if she raised her own child she would gain great mothering skills.

4th June – An academic who said he doesn’t read people’s blogs responded to my arm-twisting today to read two paragraphs from one of my posts.  Only two.

5th June – The dog in the tiny yard opposite my place chases his tail all day, round and round, drilling circles in the dirt (mud today).

6th June – With my head in a rack of coats in a clothes shop, I heard a customer say she needed to change a top for a bigger size because the one she bought was “a bit snug around the middle”.  The shop owner said, “‘Must be all that meat”.  I thought, wow, that was a bit rude!  Then I turned and saw that the customer was the lady butcher from a few shops away.

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366 unusual things: days 149-153

28th May – Took some tartes au citron (French lemon tarts), made by me, to a French-Swiss friend.  Like taking flowers to a florist.  Got the recipe from her blog.  The recipe has ingredients for 3 large tarts, or 75 tartlets that might look like mine:

29th May – On The Voice, a TV singing competition, one of the contestants is a beautiful blind singer whose name is a palindrome:  Rachael Leahcar.

30th May – Another singer with a powerful voice drew this exclamation from her coach/judge, Seal:
“You’re possessed.  You must have done a deal with the devil to make that voice come out of you.”
But then he said,
“God bless you, darlin’.”

31st May – Just watched what looked like a red autumn leaf fluttering among yellow leaves on a tree.  But looking carefully I saw it was a red breast on a small grey bird.  A robin.  I’ve never seen one before.  They only pass through suburban gardens when migrating.

1st June – Read that Umberto Eco’s Italian original of The Name of the Rose has no semi-colons in it;  his machine didn’t have that key.

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366 unusual things: days 144-148

23rd May – Rode my bike to work today for the first time (car dead).  Next to the bike path, ducks and galahs were dining together.

24th May – Read on the Via Lucis Photography blog that when building their Romanesque churches, the French moved more stone than was used in building the pyramids in all of Egyptian history.

25th May – On the radio I heard about a guy who goes to the dentist every year on his birthday so he doesn’t forget.  And he enjoys it.

26th May –  Sat at a café table outside in strong autumnal wind.  Sparrows were hopping over the salt and pepper shakers, pecking in the holes.  A strong gust of wind blew the froth from my cappuccino across the table.  A magpie came and pecked at my sandwich, through its wrapper.

27th May – Watching a one-year-old boy and his three-year-old brother toddling past my place, fair in the middle of the street.  Another five houses till they’re home.

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366 unusual things: days 139-143

18th May – Just received an email telling me how much the sender is grateful for my friendship and that good things will happen if I send it to ten more people.  But there’s more;  I am promised that at 10.35 am tomorrow I’ll hear something I’ve been waiting to hear.

19th May – At 10.35 am I was teaching a girl who can’t read much.  I didn’t hear what I’ve been waiting to hear;  she still can’t read much.  This false prophecy had an unusual effect on me:  though I looked at the email only once, the exact time prediction played on my brain like an irritating jingle.

20th May – A woman in the Housing flats had her partner evicted by police and is now picking up all the beer cans and rubbish in the yard.

21st May – In the black of night I was driving out of a large country property when the tall wrought-iron gates automatically began closing towards me.  I waited a few seconds, then they opened.

22nd May – Waited at traffic lights behind a painted hippy holiday van with the message ‘Beer makes you see double, makes you feel single’.

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Ailsa's travel photo challenge: Summer

Ailsa from the northern hemisphere has proposed a photo challenge:  summer.  http://wheresmybackpack.com/2012/05/18/summer/

Of course, I’m sitting here in the southern hemisphere, the heater blasting and the doors closed to keep the low low temperatures out.  It’s a good thing I have photos to remind me what summer is like.

Summer = beach.  I can’t get enough of the beach.  However, in recent years I’ve moved to Canberra, a few hours inland from the coast and now I don’t get much beach at all.  But when I do travel down to the coast, there’s a special compensation for the much cooler ocean temperatures which will keep me out of the water most of the time: the exquisite pleasure of walking on the rocks and reflecting on the constancy of the waves.  I’ve discovered that the rocky shoreline is pitted with rock pools and tiny caves for sea creatures.  This photo is one I took in a moment of delight at spotting crabs spotting me.

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366 unusual things: days 134-138

13th May –  Wandered down an alley beside an antique shop, attracted by old French doors lined up against the wall.   I wonder who would buy them, they’re so tall and our doorways are not.  The wrought iron is so rusty.  The paint so unattached.  Yet I ache for the doorways they came from.

14th May – Read that echidnas are carnivores because they eat ants. So, an ant is meat!

15th May – Tutored a student who never gave more than one-word answers.

16th May – Saw a large older woman waiting for a bus wearing a knee-length purple cardigan and fluffy pink earmuffs.

17th May  – Read that Abraham’s wife Sarah is the only woman in the Bible to have her age at death recorded.  She was 127.

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366 unusual things: days 129-133

8th May – The waning Super Moon was super yellow tonight.

9th May – The two cafés at the local shops are both owned by Greeks.  I asked the owner of one if he was related to the owner of the other, and he said, ‘Yes, he’s the godfather of my children and I’m the godfather of his children’.  I tried to get him to confirm they aren’t from the same family, but he wouldn’t really agree.  I saw that he had redefined family for me.

10th May – This week I’ve been feeling really confident about my car because it’s French.  Today its engine died.

11th May – Home alone.  Studied two novels set in monasteries and two documentaries about the unchanging rhythm and solitude of monastic life.

12th May – Drove a car today that has no hand brake.  But it has a button.  A finger brake.

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366 unusual things: days 119-123

28th Apr – An 8-year-old dyslexic pupil says she thinks in pictures when asked to spell a word.  I’ll have to find a way to turn sight words into pictures!

29th Apr – Just witnessed two angry young boys fist-fighting on the street. Their cool, calm mother brought them together, saying “Now, Matthew and Oliver, you must never hit each other.”  When she moved away they flew together, slapping and yelling.

30th Apr – Tutored a boy at a desk placed between a mirrored wall and uncurtained glass doors.  At the same moment, though facing in opposite directions, we both saw the clouds part and reveal a brilliant orange sunset.

1st May – A large black dog stood at the automatic doors of the grocery store, preventing them from closing, until his master had finished shopping.

2nd May – A few minutes before midnight, I translated a passage about a man locked in a room who heard a clock strike midnight followed by the sound of quiet steps approaching him.  He could see no one, but when he looked around, his door was open.

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366 unusual things: days 114-118

23rd Apr – Offered two guests a cup of tea and both of them asked for a cup of hot water.

24th Apr – Tonight I was reading another blogger’s long, long post written in white print on a black background.  My husband came to my desk and when I looked up at his face I saw it veiled in white print for several seconds.

25th Apr – At the Anzac Day Services in Canberra (the first one at 5.30 am (4 deg C, brrrrrrrr), there were 40,000 people.  That’s 5,000 more than last year.  The further we get from the First World War, the more patriotic we are becoming.

26th Apr – A man down the road has a pet black sheep.  Farmers didn’t want her because she’s the black sheep of white-woolled parents.

27th Apr – Sat beside a full-length stained-glass window, the sun beating through from the other side.  Large pieces of red glass reflected red patches onto my red bag.