A MINUTE’S SILENCE

Anzac Parade in an April dawn
Southern Cross draped on a crisp Canberra frost,
The Last Post and a chorus of cockatoos
call in a minute’s silence.

Minus four sharpens the memories.
Thoughts drift from Anzacs
to a grateful mum.
Dad home from Milne Bay to father me,
a fresh faced, blue suede under-officer.
Marriage, children, now adults.
Dad, now gone to old age,
almost happily,
save for one of us lost
in the battle for daily life.
Lover lost in the chemotherapy war
leaving a life with little point
save for the children, and now
the murmur of a new wind
gently rustling.

‘O God our Help in Ages Past’
And home to a warm bed before sunrise.

Maybe next year,
the cockatoos will grant me
an extra minute.

© Laurie McDonald