He Left His Bag Behind

by Brendan Martin

In his bag he carried everything
diaries, photographs and identity cards.
His family had been separated
brought away, on trains by guards.

In the distance he saw the smoke stack
sending grey clouds to the sky,
and when once full trains, came out empty,
he dared to wonder why….

As he cowered in the shadows
having avoided the searching men,
he somehow realised, in truth, that day,
he would not see his loves again.

After the war had ended,
he lived without soul, and heart.
In his bag he kept his memories
of a life, truly torn apart.

His wife and two young children,
a sister, and a brother,
his aunt and an uncle,
and his father and his mother

all caught up in the atrocities
of war, in world war two.
He never told his story
and no one ever knew.

He never spoke a word,
up to the day he died.
He closed his world around himself,
and no one got inside.

I met him in a nursing home,
as dementia slowly stole his mind.
I learned the truth about his family’s life,
when he left his bag behind.