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Wednesday, 26 September 2018

Poem - Madoline ‘Nina’ Murdoch


Coloured Bows
By Madoline ‘Nina’ Murdoch
(Women at the Royal Naval House at Homes wear coloured bows to signify to which boats their men belong.)

The cruisers and destroyers have borne our men away;

Perhaps ten thousand miles divide our men from us to-day.
They may be in the North Sea, they may be near at hand,
We only know for certain that we wish them safe on land.

O it's red for the Australia,
The little Penguin's blue,
It's white for the Encounter
And the Sydney's purple hue;
But it's black, plain black if your husband or your son
Went out of Sydney Harbour in the AE1.

'We're not afraid of hardships, and we're not the sort to shirk,
If the pay we get is not enough, we simply look for work;
And some have gone to service to raise an extra pound
To put towards a cottage or perhaps a piece of ground.

So it's not the fear of struggling with hunger at the door,
And it isn't that we're lonely we've been through that before!
But it breaks a woman's spirit when there's trouble for her mate,
And for her the helpless knowledge she can only work and wait.

O it's red for the Australia,
The little Penguin's blue,
It's white for the Encounter
And the Sydney's purple hue;
But it's black, plain black if your husband or your son
Went out of Sydney Harbour in the AE1.

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