Poem - The Generation that Lived

The Generation that Lived

for “Mick” Daly

My Grandfather died, townsfolk still owing him:

bread, braces of fowl, eggs. All traded

for a lifetime of odd jobs - sleep-outs,

cladding and decks; milled in his work shed.

He was of that generation that lived

through two world wars and depression.

People payed what they could afford and when.

And when it came to the end

money only bought a better plot

of dirt that you couldn’t enjoy.

My Grandfather died; he’d been loved,

worked hard, raised children, lived.

by SB Wright