my Adopted Student
by David Moore
Who is she
who kneels above
my shrapnel-splintered bones
who pours potato-scented soil
to draw me to my home
who reads my name
through tear-dark eyes
who breathes a choking prayer
as roses bloom to match her dress
and the colours of her hair?
I do not recognise her face
her kin unknown to me
but in her love our county speaks
and keeps my memory
would she had known me as I lived
and held me when I fell
she lifts me now up heaven's slopes
for I served my time in hell