Letters from the Great War

Dunham Massey 2014

Mother, we have plenty of good food here
was his first lie, though parcels came sometimes
with cake, fags, dry socks.

I hope I will get leave soon, so I can
come and meet our daughter for the first time,
wrote the officer when leave was withdrawn.

I am not afraid, mum, not with all my mates
going over the top with me in the morning.
He was killed soon after, his body never found.

We sing songs in our trench every night, dad.
Glad I took my mouth organ like you said.
It keeps our spirits up a treat.

I could not be in a better place, darling,
wrote the officer from hospital, keeping
the amputation quiet for now.

These letters displayed a hundred years on,
as fresh as when first scratched out in ink,
still lie to readers, as we…