Lise Colas’ most recent poem to appear here was “The Garden of Matisse” (August 2016)

The Land Girl’s Album
By Lise Colas

Ray,
38 squadron RAF, 1940,
your neat writing beneath the handsome
smiling face—
Kelvedon Wonder, Gradus, The Pilot,
sow in drills February-March.

Crinkles at the corner of his eyes,
his arm linked with yours,
his hands around your waist after
the dance—do you remember that first kiss?

Three head shots only,
at different angles—two wearing his officer’s cap,
and one without—the one you looked at most.
Main crop: Lord Chancellor, Alderman, Onward.

‘The one without’ looks wistful, dreamy—
your Galahad with armoured wings who powered
up to angels 13, one day in May,
and never returned,
but your letters did—eventually.

Neatly parceled up
by some kind efficient soul,
a bundle of cancelled hope, to be left buried
in a drawer under plain linen.

Your face is set, your arms are weary
as you dig for victory in the hard cruel earth.
For his sacrifice, your first love desolated,
scatter the last seeds—
Gladstone, Hollow Crown, Autocrat.