20 000 boys
Recalled the music they should have been hearing on the radio
The vanilla fragrance of the girl they should have been dating
The thick duvet hug of their mother

20 000 dreams
Of a roaring sea of fans chanting their name
Or pattering feet greeting them
“Daddy’s home”

20 000 families
Ignored the vacant place at the dinner table
The absence of Friday night’s whiff of aftershave
Pretended they enjoyed breakfast without him their to burn the toast

20 000 boys climbed over the top
Choking of a dense smoke of fear
Knowing they were going to die

20 000 dreams shattered
Fine wine glasses falling to a ceramic floor

20 000 families forever incomplete

 No Land gained
No dictator overthrown
But page twenty-three of our history book is filled
GCSE History Specification C is set.

Without knowing their families,
Their dreams, their names
For a term we care about the 20 000.

 But then A Level starts
The thought of the 20 000 fades
No longer needed

 This year we’re learning about
World War Two