Remember Then?

Do you remember that lazy midsummer In faraway Europe of long time ago? I guess like me, you can still see The girls in their dirndl skirts, such Pig-tailing heart-stoppers, really Hopping to serve us, with whirling Smiles, and coffee-cup twirling. Yes, you know you were there! I know you'll recall all of us felt they Broke many a heart then, as swaying Flicky honey-bright, blonde shiny hair Frilly-wenched blouses throbbingly full Aroused all our heartbeats with yearning. Those low gingham-clad tables fairly Arranged in disorderly style, 'specially So everyone there had their share. Remember? You were there! Were you there for the festivals? Big men in tiny short shorts, sportingly Cavorting chamoisery waistcoats, and Lederhosing around every big Square. Huge-bellied scoffing of full-fatty sausages Swilled down with foaming great frothy Glasses of beer - were you there? Did you go walking among frescoed houses With fresh-painted shutters at each side Of the still flowering boxes on windows? Attracting the brushes of poster-paint Artists who muttered so inaudibly low As canvas they splattered with Such serious care? Were you there? Above was the heart-stopping scenery. as Meadows of picture-card greenery Swayed, high in the cloudless blue skies. Sliced through by twisty dark roads, once Cut so painfully hard, by large-knuckled Vassals, working by moonlight as well As by day for nothing but honour, and For such little pay, living in squalor still Under their Fatherland's irony hold. We didn't dare stay! You were there! Greeny-blue lakes led to fairy-tale Castles. High on the list for each equipped visitor Curiously intent on cycling long miles. Given to culture, then striding out hiking To pine-girdled heights where, when there They noisily inhaled pure air, then quicker marching Would exhilerate passion for yet more, So, on to other such proudly described Fashionable retreats they'd obediently go. I know that day you were there. You surely remember the crunchy-white duvet We hid and were smothered in as we both Discovered yet another strange world? That hot summer's holiday spent together Turned into something like no other. We soon lost our youth as the doom-clouds Revealed truth of an impending war that Some of us never were to forget, and Millions would remember no more. In memory of dear Uncle George Killed in action, April 23rd.1917