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I walked past the bench today on the old pathway

a place we’d sit surrounded by woodland’s stretches

Where I’d listened to you talk of Poland before the war

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Of the Germans, Auschwitz and you as a teenage boy

delivering bread from your father’s bakery

to the Waffen SS barracks I remembered in sepia tones

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Photographs only. And you’d lose some loaves behind

the wire fences – no more words, no more details.

you did what was needed to be done. No questions.

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What else could you do. Nothing more to say

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The old bench is falling away now, the pathway a mire

of boot marks washed in black mud by the rains

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constant falling and your days my dear Stanislaus

are getting forgotten too. Are you listening to the way the rain

is falling again today. And so with thoughts of you  I walk through

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the heavy leafed trees weighed by the gathering rain

I’m lucky I’ve been surrounded by people like you

who through their actions mattered, your words of kindness too

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Remembering you I often wonder how your fathers bread tasted,

how it smelled in that place where burning flesh consumed the air

where burning human flesh and the violence could not be ignored.

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And as you told me once silence kills – imagine a life with that?

Stanislaus Pipkin was originally from Poland. His father a baker

was forced to supply bread to the SS Barracks in Auschwitz

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Concentration Extermination camp. Stanislaus as a teenager

helped his father by delivering bread to the barracks.

He also gave bread to the inmates although to do so

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meant certain execution if discovered. Stanislaus

didn’t talk much about his activities.

After the war Poland was overran by Soviet forces

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 and Stanislaus was eventually forced to escape to Britain.

He came to live in Wales where he worked in the mines.

He married, raised a family in Pontypridd.

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When the communists were ousted from Poland

Stanislaus was able to return free from the fear

of reprisal for his activities.

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Stanislaus Pipkin was honoured by Poland as a National Hero.

©robcullen30062020

On the brink with narrow men.

The Cold War overshadowed most of my childhood

fear was latch hooked on everyday things

it was the Reds they said would do us harm

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Fear went on through my teenage years too,

the continuous threat nuclear arsenals posed,

the bombers of all sides armed and ready to go.

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Polaris submarines lurked in the deep oceans,

and Cruise missiles came in as a late addition.

But something changed something called détente.

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Even so the wars continued they just found another way

around that inconvenience it was simple

they just stopped calling them wars.

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But now we’ve all caught amnesia

and fear is spreading everywhere

politicians can’t seem to help themselves.

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Ladling fear wherever they can

it’s an all too obvious narrow man’s plan  

while the dismantling goes on.

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Of Education, the National Health Service,

Social Care and so much more

it’s easy to spot the distraction of fear

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While the narrow men shout watch for the reds

but the same time get into the Chinese bed 

remember there is a collective amnesia at large

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Soon we’ll hear the justification for war

soon we’ll hear the need for boots on the ground

in whatever land is decided by the narrow men.

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And now we’ve got drones and assassinations

Taking place without a Judge in sight

no rights, no wrongs, just cold-blooded executions.

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And the ramping up of the war of words

to justify, bamboozle and hoodwink

that the actual threat is their stupidity.

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and were all living in that fear time again.

and nothing has been learned

nothing has changed the narrow men

the narrow men keep getting richer and the poor poorer.

©robcullen2018.