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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