Poem: 555

In 1939 the crew of a Polish submarine sailed their vessel across the Baltic into internment in Sweden...later they escaped & sailing submerged reached Britain where they joined the free Polish armed forces...

his hands lay among the napkins

that lay among the dishes

& the six silver forks

that were shaped like a star

as gelignite sweats

his hands were glistening   inside his head

a thirty year clock had almost run down

he told of the voyage of 14 Polish sailors

in an interned submarine

from Stockholm to Scapa Flow

he had filled the boat with fuel

carried through the dockyard in dark glass bottles

he had re-charged the batteries

& made the parts

that the neutral Swedes had taken

he said each man was decorated for valor

although the vessel was sunk

afterwards in Northern waters

& after the plates had been taken

& the second bottle served

the first bottle taken

the brandy ordered

his hands lay uncurled on the table

amongst six silver forks

that were shaped like a star

Dick Russell

(from Wolfprints, 1971, Workshop Press Ltd. London)

555 Battersea Park Road is now a Sushi restaurant in London.  Fifty years ago, it was simply the "555" and Stanislaus was the chef.  He and his Irish wife served great meals and my friends, and I ate there often.  On one occasion he joined us at our table and told his story.