The Soldier Who Never Returned
LI: To understand the story in the poem
There’s a bottle of beer in the Waiho Forks bar,
From the rest on the shelf it stands out like a star.
For its shape is old fashioned and it just might be purple
And the label proclaims that its “Ballins Four X”
It was bought a long time ago by a young soldier brave;
On his final leave home, these are the instructions he gave.
“Don’t break it or sell it, just keep it in store,
And we’ll drink it when I come back home from the war.”
He was killed overseas on the Island of Crete
When they battled it out with the German elite.
There’s a headstone but nobody knows where he lies,
If he sleeps his last sleep ‘neath the sea or the skies
But the bottle still remains at the Country Hotel,
A memorial stands to a soldier who fell,
And travellers and locals take time out to think
Of the soldier who never came home for his drink.
And somehow a glow by the bottle is shed
As poppies surround it and edge it with red,
For each Anzac Day there’s a new one to put there
And they lie like a wreath round that bottle of beer.
There are many stone cairns scattered over the land
But I wonder how many are polished by hand.
Though the cap is all rusty and outshines the chrome,
As it waits for the soldier who never came home.
Anonymous
Highlight the rhyming words in yellow
This is a narrative style poem as it tells a story. Explain why the bottle of beer is still on the shelf. The bottle of beer is still on the shelf because the soldier said not to break it or sell it and he said that they will drink it when he returned, and the people are still waiting for the soldier who never returned.
What does ANZAC stand for? ANZAC means Australia, New Zealand Army Corps
What is a cairn? Cairn is a pile of stones.
How does this poem make you feel? Why? This poem makes me feel happy because they had saved our home, but I also felt sad because a lot beloved family members were killed.
