Ewart Alan Mackintosh

A grand day to be back ashore; visited Maw, had coffee with a couple of pals, saw Tamara Drewe at the Filmhouse and even managed to meet up with da boys to sup some beers. And wandering back after lunch (OK, heading to the nearest public urinals without hanging about) I came across the Scottish American War Memorial in Princes St Gardens. The inscription is by EA Mackintosh (d.1917) whose poem, In Memoriam, is probably not that well known (certainly not compared to other WW1 poets) but is a remarkable and moving piece. It is written as a letter to the father of one of the men (David Sutherland from Achreamie in Caithness) who he commanded, who died in a raid across the lines. EA took it badly that they never retrieved his body.
You can read more about EA here. See the education I give you people!

In Memoriam


So you were David's father,
And he was your only son,
And the new-cut peats are rotting
And the work is left undone,
Because of an old man weeping,
Just an old man in pain,
For David, his son David,
That will not come again.

Oh, the letters he wrote you,
And I can see them still,
Not a word of the fighting,
But just the sheep on the hill
And how you should get the crops in
Ere the year get stormier,
And the Bosches have got his body,
And I was his officer.

You were only David's father,
But I had fifty sons
When we went up in the evening
Under the arch of the guns,
And we came back at twilight -
O God! I heard them call
To me for help and pity
That could not help at all.

Oh, never will I forget you,
My men that trusted me,
More my sons than your fathers',
For they could only see
The little helpless babies
And the young men in their pride.
They could not see you dying,
And hold you while you died.

Happy and young and gallant,
They saw their first-born go,
But not the strong limbs broken
And the beautiful men brought low,
The piteous writhing bodies,
They screamed "Don't leave me, sir",
For they were only your fathers
But I was your officer.