From A Family Saga

if those fragments were put together

O’Donnell’s story might be told

would it catch his anguish

would it catch his pain

would it straighten his back

give him spine again

to relive those moments

relive those days

when warrior equipped

he marched 

when word of war came

to widow a mother 

of five sons one daughter 

when a German bullet

killed Henry Friend

out of his trench

his side lost anyway

flex at knee

shoulders back

chest out

bayonet at ready

a statue guarding 

a cemetery

and another fragment goes on to say

O'Donnell's daughter by bigamy
Rebecca

married Henry Friend's son
James

who also was maimed in a war

copyright © Dick Russell

                2018