WRITTEN BY: TOMAS (PADDY) HAMILTON   27APR20

THERE’S A PAIR OF BOOTS, WITH A DIGGER’S HAT, MOUNTED FOR ALL TO SEE

A SILENT IMORTAL TRIBUTE, FOR THEY’RE SURE TO OUTLAST ME

THEY REST THERE, CAST IN BRONZE, A REMINDER OF BATTLES PAST

WHEN THROUGH OUR NATION’S DARKEST DAYS, THE WEARY LINES HELD FAST

THEY SLUSHED ACROSS NEW GUINEA, BY A MUTITUDE OF ROUTES

SPARKING MANY MEMORIES, SO WE CALLED,   THEM BOCKER’S BOOTS

I MET HIM MANY YEARS AGO, IN OUR LOCAL RSL

I’D SIT THERE CAPTIVATED, BY THE YARNS THAT HE WOULD TELL

HE TRECKED ALONG KOKODA, AND UP TO SHAGGY RIDGE

WHERE DAYTIME WAS A SAUNA AND NIGHTIME WAS A FRIDGE

A UNIFORM OF ROTTING RAGS, SMEARED WITH COMRADES BLOOD

A FESTERING MESS OF HIS OWN SWEAT,  JUNGLE SORES AND MUD

WE’D CATCH UP EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT AND GATHER ‘ROUND THE BAR

HIS UNIQUE LAUGH WOULD LET ALL KNOW, THAT BOCKER WASN’T FAR

SINGING SONGS LIKE SUVLA BAY AND HEART OF MY HEART

IF WE’D EVER BEEN AUDITIONED, WE’D HAVE NEVER GOT A START

HE WAS A FATHER FIGURE, WHEN MY ADULTHOOD HAD BEGUN

OFFERING ME SOUND ADVICE AND SPEAKING ILL OF NONE

I JOINED HIM EVERY ANZAC DAY, FOR NEARLY TWENTY YEARS

AND WATCH THE SUN RISE AT THE DAWN, THROUGH OUR MISTY TEARS

HE HAD NO CHILDREN OF HIS OWN, WITH PATIA HIS LOVING WIFE

IN A TRYING, TROUBLED WORLD, THEY WERE MATES FOR LIFE

ALWAYS THERE TO GUIDE ME, WHEN THE TIMES WERE GRIM

SO WHEN WE HAD OUR SECOND SON, WE NAMED HIM AFTER HIM

AS TIME AND DUTY TOOK IT’S TOLL AND DISTANCE MADE IT HARD

WE ALWAYS TRIED TO KEEP IN TOUCH, WITH A SIMPLE CHRISTMAS CARD

BUT SADLY WE LOST CONTACT AND I THOUGHT HE’D MOVED AWAY

I MADE MYSELF A SOLEMN VOW, TO TRACK HIM DOWN ONE DAY

I TRIED SO HARD TO FIND HIM , THROUGH FRIENDS I THOUGHT HE’D KNOW

BUT EACH TIME I DREW  A BLANK, I HAD NOWHERE ELSE TO GO

THEN ONE DAY I FOUND HIM, AT NINETY-SEVEN YEARS OF AGE

LAYING A REMEMBRACE WREATH, ON A SUB-BRANCH FACEBOOK PAGE

ALAS MY HOPES WERE ALL IN VAIN, WHEN I READ THE SOMBRE POST

BOCKER HAD PASSED TWO DAYS BEFORE, ALL I WAS SEEING WAS HIS GHOST

HE MADE HIS FINAL JOURNEY, ACROSS ETERNITY’S BRIDGE

AND NOW HE RESTS WITH THE MATES, HE LEFT ON SHAGGY RIDGE

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