-« He should pull through »...
The doctor seems convinced by his own words.
A method of autosuggestion ?
The method he prefers to employ for the sake of caution.
His wife looks at him, her eyes brimming with hope...
« He’s going to pull through? My God, thank you, thank you… »
A tear falls from her eye and rolls down her soft face.
The doctor leaves.
The antibiotics should do the trick…
The chronic bronchitis will be contained or else relieved.
The old man is becoming ever weaker due to his raucous cough which has lingered for years…
«The old man? Sixty-one years of age? Is that any age to die? »
No, he’s going to pull through my Grandpa!!! »
The young boy, aged five years old, does not understand what is happening before his eyes.
« His » grandpa! He was a symbol of strength!
He would take him on his lap,
Enjoy watching him play with the buttons on his sheepskin jacket
When he returned from the local coffee shop after a game of cards or billiards
And chatting with his friends.
He would smile at him tenderly, caressing his hair,
Giving him a sense of security
Unlike any other…
« Grandpa, don’t go!... »
But Grandpa, the Fighter, fell to his knees…
At that time, on the battle field,
The cloud which went unnoticed by the battalion
Was a prelude to an onslaught by the masked attackers…
Half of his comrades were killed.
The others pulled through,
Their lungs scorched by the chlorine…
« Verdun ! They shall not pass!... »
« They » did not pass…
But what was the price they paid ?
He was just 26 years old…
Like all the others, he never asked for anything…
« General mobilisation! »
France needed to be defended against its attacker…
A terrible conflict, the world was in flames…
Twenty million dead of whom half were civilians,
Twenty-one million injured,
Eight million maimed…
One and a half million French died there,
That’s twenty-seven per cent
Of the eighteen to twenty-seven years old.
Sinister figures…
In the mud of the trenches…
Shrapnel released,
Bodies damaged,
Limbs severed,
Fifteen thousand faces disfigured,
Bayonets embedded,
Abdomens gutted.
Incredible strain….
But he was lucky…
He was given a reprieve,
But his time is up…
« Close your eyes, Grandpa, you have fought enough…
Rest at last…
You have fought, like all your comrades,
For the Freedom of your country,
For France ».
But Grandpa…
If only you knew
What this world which you defended
Has become!...
Guy Belloy