His tale is over, borrowed

from his own father who sought a difference

to the world of industrial dirt

and the stench of flippant war

across Europe; the boy swam the great lake

beside his home in Hamilton, played

Ice Hockey and dreamed of fields, woods

and forests that would survive

all that he would leave behind

as he boarded the ship in Montreal

that would lead him back to another war,

one he would see erupt in yellow golden flame and damaging red

as Coventry burned,