05/28/2025
Of Different Stuff
The ATS, the WAAFS, the WRENS,
rode in battleships,
flew spitfires and mosquitoes,
decoded enemy messages
nursed the wounded.
They tilled the land
drove tractors, fed the pigs,
birthed the lambs,
rose with the dawn,
went to bed late
exhausted and often hungry.
They walked alone in London
late at night
in the dark and dangerous streets,
they slept in freezing dormitories
shared a lavatory and basin
with twenty others.
These women were made
of different stuff.
They were fearless,
they were brave.
*
I am ashamed at my fearfulness
in the peace they fought for us,
gave us.
I am made, sadly, of different stuff.
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