Poem for Uncle Mac

Corporal MacIntosh Frew 1898-1917

We found your name there
on the monument at Beaumont Hamel
among those with unmarked graves
Corporal
Frew M.

but you’re not really there
you’re miles away
somewhere in the fields
near the monument at Monchy-le-Preux
where your company was trapped at Infantry Hill
April 14, 1917

on June 11, 2005
I can’t weep and mourn
never to see your face again at the family table
like William and Catherine
when they read the message
that day in Grand Falls

I do have the photo
of you in uniform
and being here
seeing your name on the wall
and finding your picture with
the “Missing at the Somme”, at Thiepval
helps me awaken to your loss

but the trenches are green now
with grazing sheep and trees

I can only try to imagine how alone you felt
in no man’s land
in that storm of bullets
in those final moments
that cold morning

John A. Munro
West Malling, England
June 13, 2005